Before you hop on Discord and start chillin’ with your friends, fostering deeper connections, and creating memories that last a lifetime, there’s something important you’ve got to set up: your profile and experience!
So read along as we go through all the different ways you can customize your Discord. From tailoring your forward-facing presence to sprucing up the app itself, there are plenty of ways to make your experience feel unique to you.
Your profile is your home base where everyone can learn a little bit about you! Think of your Discord profile as one of those “Hi, My Name is ____” nametags, except with way more room for you to shove an entire paragraph about yourself instead of just your name.
Everyone can edit and share the following information in their Discord profiles:
Do you like your chats looking like they’re written on a piece of paper? Or do you prefer to keep things dark and moody for catching up on chat during the late hours of the night?
Whichever is easier on your eyes, we’ve got a solution: head into User Settings > Appearance to swap between Light and Dark themes at any time.
Or, if you prefer to have your entire device in a specific mode, you can choose the Sync option to have Discord match up with your system’s Light or Dark theme to avoid any surprises — like being blinded by Light mode when your entire device is already in a Dark mood.
You might see other Theme options right below Light and Dark mode, but we’ll talk about those later on in the article…
What are you doing right now? Whatever it is, you don’t have to message every single individual friend each time you’re doing something new to keep them in the know. Instead, set your Status!
Status Messages are shown right under your display name in places such as your profile, in DM conversations, and on a server’s Members list! At school working hard? Or hardly working? Either way, write a short message to keep everyone informed — you can even add an emoji to it!
For those of us old enough to remember setting up “Away” messages on AOL Instant Messenger, this is nothing new… but if you’ve never set a status message before, try it out sometime.
Sometimes, you don’t want to prep a message to explain what you’re up to. You just wanna get in and play a game or listen to music! Whatever your preference, we got ya covered there, too.
By heading into User Settings > Connections, you’ll be able to link a ton of different accounts to Discord. All of them let you display that account on your Discord profile, but a few of them have a unique feature that will automatically show your friends what you’re doing.
Connecting one of the following accounts will display a unique activity status on that platform:
You’ve got your display icon and a perfectly written bio of yourself all set up on your Discord profile, ready for the world to enjoy. Now, how are you going to tie it all together? With a bow? A “thank you for visiting my profile” message at the end of your bio? Or, do you want to make your profile shine above the others?
We’ve got the perfect solution for you: Profile Effects & Avatar Decorations! Avatar Decorations are shown everywhere your profile icon is seen, including next to your messages in conversations or on your profile page. Profile Effects are huuuge visual flourishes that play whenever someone opens up your profile, whether it’s the full profile or the little pop-up version.
You can find all this in the Shop, located in User Settings > Profiles > Go to Shop on either the desktop or web apps! While you can’t purchase items from the Shop on mobile at this time, you can still apply any decoration you’ve previously purchased while on the go.
Note: Currently, the Shop is in Nitro Early Access, meaning you’ll need to be a Nitro member to purchase. However, everyone can still browse the Shop and see what’s available. When the Shop is open to all, we’ll remove this note!
If you’re in a LOT of Discord servers for different friend groups, interests, and hobbies, having a single place to explain who you are to everyone may feel a bit limiting. You might think to yourself, “Well, my profile is like ‘my main space,’ but I’m a multi-faceted person with many hobbies who shows up in different ways based on where I am.”
First off, nice job using “multi-faceted” in that sentence, and second: did you know Nitro members can establish entirely different profiles in each server they’re in?
Everyone can set the profile customization options mentioned here. Nitro members can set those same customization options on different servers. Tailor your presence depending on the people that you’re spending time with, and yes… they can be different on every single server you’re in.
Purple wall. Purple chair. Purple headphones. Purple phone case. Purple keyboard.
…but just the standard Dark theme on Discord? No, we can’t have that… make it PURPLE.
Nitro members can choose between over 20 additional Themes on top of the existing Light and Dark themes! Decorate your Discord with darker Themes such as Chroma Glow or Midnight Blurple, or brighten up the mood with lighter-colored Themes like Citrus Sherbet.
I’ve heard rumors of a secret additional theme somewhere… but you’ll have to ask around for that one (they won’t tell me how to get it). Learn more about Themes in this blog post.
Take a step back, dust off your hands, and look at what you’ve accomplished. You’ve made your profile pristine, adjusted Discord’s appearance to your perfect style, and started to let everyone know what you’re up to using your favorite custom emojis. Now, your Discord is as cool as you!
If you’re itching to learn more about all things Discord, explore our How To Discord section of the blog — it’s got everything from what games to play, to how to start up a server from scratch… it’s even got the important stuff like keeping your account safe with 2FA. If it’s important to know, you’ll find it here!
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