Discord – a free new app that allowed high-quality voice, video, and text chat both in-game and outside. On Discord, you can add friends, build your own communities, host watch parties, and do a whole lot more. Here’s a quick rundown of all the cool features and tips that make Discord stand out from other voice/video communication platforms.
Working
- The software can be accessed for free on Windows PC and macOS by visiting the official website. Between the two variants – desktop and browser, we would recommend you to pick the downloadable one as it has more features.
- Upon signing up, you’ll be asked to enter a username and the app will assign you a unique ID (example – yourname#0000). This number will then help you to add desired friends from a vast pool of similar usernames.
- Once on the home page, users can initiate conversations by clicking the Plus(+) button on the left-hand side pane. This opens up the server prompt, where you have the choice of creating your own or joining an existing community. Let’s start by creating a server.
- On the right-hand side, you’ll see the server members and their activity status – online, offline, idle, etc. The left side features the general text and voice channels, above which you’ll see plus symbols. These allow you to add more channels, where members can hold casual discussions based on several topics.
- Inviting someone to your server is as easy as clicking the “Invite People” button. This creates a custom invite link, using which others can join. By default, this link is set to expire in 7 days. But you can set it to never expire by clicking the checkbox.
Features
- By default, the User Profile tab lets you set a custom avatar and enter a bio. On the Appearance section, you can set font size, spacing between letters, and a magnification slider that lets you adjust the zoom levels.
- For people with colour blindness or some other form of disability, Discord has added a number of accessibility features. Users can adjust the colour saturation based on their eye stress levels or even listen to the text-to-speech version of a written message.
- Before heading into a call and blasting someone’s ear off, it is recommended that you test and adjust your mic audio. In Voice Settings, users can set their default input or output volumes and test their microphone sensitivity by speaking into it. The app instantly plays back a recording of your voice.
- If you’re live streaming on Twitch or YouTube, there is a good chance that you might end up leaking sensitive information ranging from emails, phone numbers, or billing information. To prevent that, Discord has added a Streamer Mode toggle that hides all of that data.
- Discord Nitro is a paid subscription-based feature that adds more profile customisation options, emojis, and superpowered chat features. Priced at $9.99 (about Rs 750) per month, the feature lets you stylise your profile with a banner and add an animated GIF avatar.
