Discord bluntly describes the cell app it launched in 2015 as a squished-down model of its desktop platform. However that acknowledgment comes with an announcement that stated app is getting a whole redesign that is an “impartial expertise” from its computer-based counterpart. It features a new set of navigation tabs prominently displayed on the backside of your display: Servers, Messages, Notifications and You.
Whereas Discord thought of modifications like a horizontal format, the Servers tab seems similar to earlier than — simply no direct messaging possibility. As a substitute, a Messaging tab replaces the present Associates one, displaying all of your one-on-one and group messages in a single place as a substitute of getting to click on by means of a number of pages. You too can favourite a dialog so it stays on the high of your chats and use a search bar to discover a message, file, pin or attachment throughout all discussions — similar as WhatsApp or basic messaging. Additionally new in conversations is the flexibility to swipe left on a message to answer to it, moderately than having to carry it down. You might need seen that Discord already modified the formatting of image messages to point out in a gallery fashion versus one after the other.
The Notifications tab will now embrace server occasions, pal requests and message replies, all of which you’ll click on to achieve the supply instantly. Plus, notifications ought to now auto-clear as a substitute of requiring you to take away them. Rounding out the now 4 tabs on the underside (bye search) continues to be the You web page. The Associates tab has been built-in right here, alongside options like altering your standing or profile image. That is additionally nonetheless the tab for accessing account settings however with a bit extra comfort. You possibly can double-tap the You tab to go on to account settings and, as soon as there, there is a search bar to seek out no matter info you want. One software you possibly can entry there’s the brand new Midnight theme, offering a pure black background that ought to relaxation your eyes a bit.
The app’s functioning has additionally improved, with Discord claiming that opening the app will take you 55 p.c much less time on Android and 43 p.c much less on iOS — apparently utilizing 4 occasions much less information whereas doing so. Android customers’ crash charge has additionally been lowered by half over the previous 12 months. Plus, voice and video calls have improved functioning, with an up to date UI permitting for “extra intuitive interactions.”
Discord additionally shared that it is engaged on different requested updates, comparable to fast entry to a server’s member checklist, higher search filters, extra customization choices for viewing messages, and total app efficiency enhancements. You need to use the suggestions discussion board at any level to precise stuff you’re sad with or that you just’d prefer to see modified.
Notably, Discord acquired itself in a little bit of scorching water lately with the US Senate Judiciary Committee. The corporate refused to have its CEO, Jason Citron, testify about kids’s security on-line, would not settle for an digital subpoena and merited an workplace go to by US Marshals at hand ship one. Citron will communicate with the committee about defending children — and Discord’s “failures” to take action — alongside the CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok and Snap on January 31, 2024, at 10 AM ET.