Discord has begun rolling out an updated desktop app that adds more customization options for customers. For starters, the new app increases the number of free themes to four. Previously, you could choose between two skins – light and dark – if you weren’t a Nitro subscriber, but now you have a choice between light, ash, dark, and onyx. In short, everyone gets access to darker themes. Discord also added three new interface density options – default, spacious, and compact. They do not depend on the existing options for the layout of messages in the app, so this is another way to customize the appearance of the interface.
With this redesign, the company is also finally giving users the ability to resize their channel list. Discord has also redesigned the controls that appear during a voice or video call. Now, more of the buttons you can press during a call will appear in the center bar at the bottom of the screen. At the same time, the microphone and camera buttons are now more colorful so you can better see if the sound is off or the camera is on.
“All of these updates are designed to improve readability, reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed by visual noise, and maintain consistency between desktop and mobile devices,” explains Discord.
In addition, the updated app comes with a new overlay, which Discord says is faster and doesn’t affect game performance. Following the example of Valve’s recent Steam redesign, Discord has redesigned the interface around widgets, which means you can navigate each individual element as you wish. The company has also redesigned the overlay so that it doesn’t “cling” to games. As a result, it is less likely to trigger anti-cheat systems like BattleEye. In turn, this means that the new overlay is compatible with “most of the most popular games on Discord.” You can even watch a friend’s stream directly from the new overlay.
The updated app and overlay come after Discord CEO Jason Citron announced last May that the company was refocusing on creating the best communication tool for gamers. In 2020, Discord briefly turned into a universal chat app after many young people turned to the platform to stay in touch with their friends during the lockdown.
“After taking stock of the world with the pandemic largely behind us and hearing directly from you about how Discord can be even more useful, we recognized the need to narrow our focus from a broad community-focused chat app to a place that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests,” Citron wrote last year.
The update also comes at what could be a pivotal moment for Discord. According to a recent New York Times report, the company could go public as early as the end of this year. Since 72 percent of Discord users regularly play on computers, taking care of these people ahead of a potential IPO is especially important.
