Discord has exploded into one of the most popular communication platforms on the planet. Analysts estimate active monthly users surged from 56 million in 2019 to over 150 million by the end of 2021.
With this meteoric growth, more people than ever are now relying on Discord to chat with friends, coordinate games, host communities – making downtime all the more frustrating.
Even the best software sees technical issues crop up periodically. Server outages can temporarily take Discord down, but there are also plenty of client-side problems that may require you to restart the app.
Maybe Discord is glitching out, failing to send messages, or has stopped syncing new content from your servers. Perhaps you want to apply updates that fix bugs or patch security vulnerabilities.
Whatever the reason, this restart guide will walk you through the quick and easy steps to force quit and relaunch Discord across all major platforms. We‘ll provide detailed troubleshooting advice tailored to Windows, macOS, iOS and Android – going beyond a basic how-to manual with plenty of insider tips from our years of technical support experience.
Overview: Why Might I Need to Restart Discord?
Before we dig into the step-by-step instructions, let‘s go over some of the most common reasons why restarting the Discord application can help restore normal functionality:
1. Temporary glitches and frozen screens – Like any complex software, Discord may simply get "stuck" while running – failing to load new messages, channels becoming unresponsive, voice chat freezing up. Restarting the app essentially flushes out any glitches.
2. Network connectivity issues – Problems with your local Wi-Fi or ISP can manifest as errors within Discord like failed uploads or blank servers. Restarting gives the app a fresh chance to reconnect.
3. Updates requiring a restart – Developers frequently ship updates to fix bugs, patch security problems or add features. Applying these updates often requires fully closing and reopening the software.
4. Accumulated junk files/caches – As Discord runs, it stores temporary browser caches, log files, usage data etc on your local device. Over time, this can slow down performance. Restarting clears it all out.
5. Strange crashes/lockups – In rare cases Discord may completely lock up/crash without showing any error messages. Restarting essentially performs a "hard reset" clearing any background processes still running after crashes.
6. Weird audio/video issues – Common problems like cam feeds freezing, weird microphone echos or choppy screen sharing can sometimes be fixed by restarting Discord to reset the media components.
Essentially a restart flushes out any temporary glitches or failed connections, clears junk background data, and reloads the app code fresh.
With that foundation laid, let‘s get into the step-by-step details for force restarting Discord on both desktop operating systems and mobile platforms!
Step-by-Step: Restarting Discord on Desktop
Thanks to Discord‘s lightweight and snappy architecture, completely quitting and relaunching Discord only takes a few seconds on both Windows and macOS.
Let‘s go through the detailed steps for each platform:
Restarting Discord on Windows 10
First we need to fully quit Discord to ensure no background processes are still running. The easiest way is to right-click Discord‘s icon in your system tray:
Select Quit Discord from the right-click menu. This gracefully exits from the application. Discord will disappear from your taskbar.
If Discord is frozen or unresponsive, you may need to force close the program through Task Manager:
i. Hit CTRL+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager
ii. Go to the "Processes" tab
iii. Scroll down and right-click on the Discord process
iv. Select End Process Tree to force quit Discord along with any connected background tasks.
Task Manager is like the master override for any Windows application. We use it whenever programs become completely unresponsive to all other shutdown options.
Once fully closed, restart Discord fresh by clicking the Windows start menu and reopening Discord.
That‘s all there is to it! Only takes a few seconds.
Restarting Discord on macOS
As with Windows, only a couple simple steps are required to restart Discord on a Mac:
First, quit Discord properly by right clicking the Discord dock icon and selecting Quit:
This makes sure the app exits cleanly without background processes still running.
If Discord is ignoring all your clicks or has become unresponsive, press Command + Option + Esc to open the Force Quit menu:
Next, select the Discord app and click the Force Quit button.
Fun fact: Force quitting apps on macOS sends a sudden
SIGTERMsignal basically yelling at the app to close NOW. So only use it when Discord refuses to close normally.Finally, reopened Discord by clicking the Discord icon in your Mac Applications folder.
You‘ll see Discord boot up like new again. The restart cleared out any temporary glitches.
Why You Should Force Quit Misbehaving Apps
You might be wondering when should you force quit Discord vs normally quitting it?
General rule of thumb is to only force quit apps that become:
- Completely frozen/unresponsive
- Unable to shutdown through normal means like quit/close buttons
- Displaying blank white/black screens
When apps enter these states, there‘s likely a runaway process hogging system resources in the background – so forcing the program closed becomes necessary.
Keep in mind force quitting is like cutting the power during a computer freeze. So only use it as a last resort when simple restart attempts fail.
Step-by-Step: Restarting Discord on iPhone, iPad and Android
Due to tighter mobile operating system restrictions, you cannot always fully "close" iOS or Android apps. But terminating Discord to flush cached data and restart background connections is still straightforward.
Let‘s go through the nuances for each mobile platform:
Restarting Discord on iPhone & iPad
Thanks to iOS‘s super streamlined app switcher, you can restart Discord with just a couple quick swipes:
To begin flushing Discord out of the background, swipe up from the very bottom edge of your iPhone or iPad screen to reveal the app switcher.
You‘ll see thumbnails previewing all your recently used apps. Find the Discord preview…
And swipe up on the Discord thumbnail to forcibly terminate it.
This won‘t fully delete the app of course. But it ensures Discord won‘t be running anything in the background.
Finally, tap the Discord icon to relaunch it fresh!
And that‘s all you need to do on iPhone and iPad. Streamlined but very effective for any misbehaving apps.
Restarting Discord on Android Devices
The process works a bit differently on Android:
Open your Recent Apps switcher by either:
- Swiping up from the bottom nav bar
- Tapping the Recent Apps button which looks like a sideways window
You‘ll then see your recently used apps stacked in a rolodex-style view. Swipe through until you spot the Discord app preview.
Swipe the Discord preview upwards to close it out of recent apps. However, this doesn‘t fully force stop background processes.
So we have one more unusual (but important!) step. Open your Android device settings.
Tap Apps, then scroll down to select Discord from the list:
Finally tap Force Stop on the Discord page to terminate any lingering processes.
Now Discord has been completely stopped! Relaunch by tapping the Discord app icon to restart things fresh.
This may seem like Android makes you jump through extra hoops. But force stopping apps helps make sure they aren‘t secretly running stuff in the background draining your battery or mobile data.
Restarting Discord on Mobile: FAQs
We get lots of common questions around restarting Discord on phones and tablets. So let‘s quickly go through some popular ones:
Why can‘t I swipe Discord away to fully close it on iPhone/iPad?
Due to tighter app restrictions in iOS, swiping Discord away from the app switcher doesn‘t fully force stop it. Only a full device reboot terminates background processes on iPhone/iPad.
Does force stopping Discord on Android cause any data or login loss?
Nope! Force stopping just ensures background processes are closed to free up device memory and battery. Your data remains intact across app restarts.
If restarting Discord itself doesn‘t fix issues, what should I try next?
First step is then fully restarting your mobile device in case there are deeper OS-related problems. As a last resort, try reinstalling Discord or switching to the web app version if crashes persist.
Why doesn‘t iOS need an extra Force Stop step like Android?
Apple keeps tighter controls limiting background behavior of iOS apps – so restarting them via the app switcher is generally sufficient.
In summary – restarting Discord on mobile is quick and straightforward:
| Platform | Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone/iPad | Swipe up to show app switcher, swipe up on Discord preview | Tap on Discord icon to relaunch |
| Android | Swipe up to show recent apps, close Discord preview | Force stop Discord in Settings, relaunch app |
What If Restarting Discord Doesn‘t Fix Issues?
While restarting Discord should resolve most temporary glitches – what should you try if issues like crashing or failed connections still persist afterwards?
Before contacting Discord support, here are a few last things you can attempt on your own:
Reboot Device – Try fully power cycling your computer, phone or tablet. Rebooting resets deeper system modules that might fix problems Discord relies on.
Reinstall Discord – If crashes persist across app restarts/reboots, corrupted installation files may be the culprit. Uninstall and fresh install Discord as a last resort.
Clear Cached Data – Wipe local temp files/app data that may have become corrupted over time through Settings menus.
Try Web App – Jump onto Discord through Chrome/Firefox browser instead. Web apps isolate issues caused by native platform clients.
Check System Resources – Make sure you haven‘t run out of critical memory, storage or bandwidth needed to run resource-intensive apps like Discord smoothly.
Still not working? Reach out to Discord‘s customer support team through their contact page. Their technical reps can help diagnose and escalate persistent problems.
We hope this restart guide has given you lots of helpful troubleshooting tips to keep Discord running like new. Let us know if you have any other questions!
