Discord gets major safety improvements and fresh new features

Discord has continued to grow in popularity over the years, expanding beyond being an app for gamers to meet up. Nowadays, Discord is used by all kinds of people, including young teenagers. In an effort to shore up security, Discord is now implementing new safety measures. Alongside this, the mobile app is being updated with fresh new features and there are some new changes to the Nitro subscription.

On the safety front, Discord is now issuing ‘safety alerts' to the accounts of teenagers when they receive a direct message from a new person. The alert will be accompanied by a message encouraging safe online practices and provide a quick and easy way for the account to be blocked from contacting you. Additionally, new filters are now in place to automatically screen sensitive content in both DMs and servers. This sensitive content filter can be switched on manually too if you are an adult using Discord.

Those found to be violating Discord's rules will also now get a DM from Discord explaining their violation and allowing users to view past violations. You can then view your account standing tab in the settings. Instant bans will be issued for sharing violent extremist content or content that sexualises children.

Aside from the safety features, Discord has also been working on improving its mobile app. Over the past year, the mobile app team has managed to reduce loading times for the app on Android by 55 percent and 43 percent on iOS. The app uses less data and new messages now sync in the background on mobile and stores more recent messages so you can get to chatting faster. The crash rate on Android has also been reduced to 0.26 percent.

Other improvements on the Discord Mobile side include better media uploads, allowing users to select multiple videos and pictures to upload at once and you can swipe between uploads while seeing the accompanying message. Voice messages have also been implemented in recent months, so you can quickly send voice notes at the press of a button, similar to other apps.

In the future, Discord on mobile will get newly updated themes, a new voice and video UI, new icons, better search and notifications and the ability to search in settings, allowing you to get to whatever you need to tweak without scrolling. A brand new feature that arrived recently is Remix, allowing you to edit images within Discord to add text, stamps and drawings.

A big Discord update wouldn't be complete without new additions to Nitro. Subscribers now have access to extra benefits, including the ability to change the app icon on desktop or mobile, new soundboard sounds, early access to new features like the Discord shop for new customisation options, or the new Remix feature for image editing.

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KitGuru Says: Discord is taking steps to keep younger users safe and implementing welcomed improvements elsewhere. The mobile app in particular has seen major improvement this year. 

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