How to Restart Discord

Discord, like most online services, can occasionally experience problems that need to be fixed. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to restart Discord so that you can get back to chatting with your friends. Whether the app is crashing or freezing, following these steps will help resolve the issue.

Why You Might Need to Restart Discord

There are a few reasons why you might need to restart Discord, but the most common one is an issue with the app crashing and freezing. You could also be experiencing connection issues that are making it difficult to load, read or send messages on a Discord server.

To overcome these issues, you probably just need to quickly restart the app. However, you might also need to force Discord to restart. We’ll cover that further in this article.

How to Restart Discord on Windows

If you’re using Discord on a Windows PC, you can restart the app by following these instructions:

1. Click the X in the top-right corner of the Discord app window.
2. A pop-up window will appear asking if you’re sure you want to quit Discord. Click Yes.
3. Re-open the Discord app by double-clicking the discord icon pinned to your desktop or by searching for it in the Start menu.

How to Restart Discord on Mac

If you’re using Discord on a Mac, here’s how to restart the app:

1. Click the X in the top-left corner of the Discord app window.
2. Click yes when you’re asked if you’re sure you want to close Discord.
3. Re-open the Discord app by double-clicking its shortcut from your taskbar or by searching for it in the Applications folder.

How to Restart Discord on iPhone and iPad

If you’re using Discord on an iPhone or iPad, here’s how to reset Discord:

1. Tap the three dots in the top-right corner of the screen.
2. Tap Exit.
3. Re-open the Discord app by tapping its shortcut from your home screen.

How to Restart Discord on Android

If you’re using Discord on an Android device, here’s how to restart:

1. Tap the three dots in the top-right corner of the screen.
2. Tap Exit.
3. Re-open the Discord app by tapping its shortcut from your home screen or by searching for it in your app drawer.

How to Restart Discord on Linux:

If you’re using Discord on Linux, here’s how to restart:

1. Click the X in the top-right corner of the Discord app window.
2. A pop-up window will appear asking if you’re sure you want to quit Discord. Click Yes.
3. Open a terminal window and type “discord” without quotation marks to restart.

Will I Lose Data if I Restart the Discord App?

No, you will not lose any data if you simply restart the Discord app. The only time you may lose data is if you force quit or restart your device while Discord is running and unsaved changes have been made to a file, such as a message in a text channel that hasn’t been sent yet. These changes will be lost and cannot be recovered.

How to Force Quit Discord

As you can tell, the steps to refreshing Discord are very similar regardless of which device you’re using. Now let’s look at forcing the Discord client to restart. This will be necessary if the app stops responding entirely and you cannot simply shut it down.

On Windows, you can force quit Discord using Task Manager. Here’s how:

1. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard or by right-clicking the taskbar and selecting Task Manager from the menu.
2. Click the Processes tab.
3. Find and click Discord in the list of processes.
4. Click end
5. Click End Task in the confirmation window.

On Mac, you can force quit Discord using Activity Monitor. Here’s how:

1. Open Activity Monitor by searching for it in Spotlight or by finding it in the Utilities folder.
2. Click the Processes tab.
3. Find and click Discord in the list of processes.
4. Click the X in the top-left corner of the selected process.
5. Click Force Quit in the confirmation window.

On iPhone and iPad, you can force quit Discord by double-tapping the Home button and then swiping up on the Discord app preview.

On Android, you can force quit Discord by opening your device’s Settings app, tapping Apps & notifications, tapping See all apps, scrolling down to and tapping Discord, and then tapping Force stop.

If all else falls and Discord has caused your entire system to crash, whether that be on PC, Mac, or Mobile, you will be forced to restart the device using the power button. This is the last-case scenario and you should try everything above first.

How to Update The Discord Application

If restarting Discord didn’t fix the problem, the next thing you should try is updating the app to the latest version. Here’s how:

Updating Discord on Mac and Windows:

1. Open the Discord client
2. Click on the gear icon in the bottom-left corner
3. Select check for updates
4. If an update is available, it will begin downloading automatically

Updating on iPhone and iPad:

1. Open the App Store
2. Tap the updates tab
3. Tap update next to Discord in the list of available updates
4. If Discord isn’t there, your app doesn’t need updating

Updating Discord on Android:

1. Open the Google Play Store
2. Tap menu in the top-left corner
3. Tap my apps & games
4. Scroll down to Discord and tap update
5. If Discord isn’t there, your app doesn’t need updating

What if Updating Discord Didn’t Solve the Problem?

If you’ve tried all of the above steps and Discord is still not working properly, there may be an issue with your system, network, or connection. In this case, you should try some of the following options.

Check if Discord is down

It could be that the Discord servers are having downtime. It’s rare, but it does happen. You can keep an eye on downtime by using the server status website here. Unfortunately, if the network is down, that means all Discord channels will stop working and there’s little you can do about it. You will just have to wait it out.

Restart your computer or device

This is always a good troubleshooting step to take, especially if you’ve been using your device for a while and it hasn’t been restarted recently. A full reboot can fix many problems.

Clear the DNS cache on your computer

When you visit a website, your computer saves that web address in its DNS cache so it can quickly load the site the next time you visit it. Sometimes, this saved data can become outdated and cause problems when trying to access websites. This is a surprisingly common reason for problems when trying to run Discord.

Here’s how to clear the DNS cache on Windows with Command Prompt:

1. Click Command Prompt from the list of results
2. In the Command Prompt window, type ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter.

Here’s how to clear the DNS cache on macOS:

1. Open up the Terminal application.
2. Type in the following command and hit enter: sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

If you’re using WiFi, try switching to a wired connection

Sometimes, WiFi can be the cause of problems with Discord. This is especially true if you’re using a public WiFi network or if your home network isn’t particularly strong. If possible, try connecting your computer to the internet using an Ethernet cable and see if that solves the problem.

If you’re on mobile, turn off WiFi and use your mobile data. This is the equivalent of the above step for mobile devices. If you’re having problems with Discord, try turning off WiFi and using your mobile data to see if that solves the problem.

Reset your network settings on Mobile

If you’re still having problems with Discord after trying all of the above steps, you can reset your network settings. This will reset all of your network-related settings to their default values. Here’s how:

For iPhone and iPad:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Tap general
3. Tap Reset
4. Tap reset network settings

How to reset network settings on Android:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Tap network & internet
3. Tap advanced
4. Tap reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth

Final Steps

Hopefully, one of the above steps has solved your problem. If not, the best option is to reach out to the Discord support team for further troubleshooting steps.

If they can’t help, there may be an issue with your router or ISP that’s causing the problem. In this case, you should contact your ISP or router manufacturer for help.