Discord's mobile app evolution: New features for superior user experience
Discord, the global communication service, has announced the next evolution of its mobile application commencing with a worldwide rollout. With digital communication becoming more mobile-centric, Discord has taken on board user feedback to implement meaningful improvements to its mobile experience over the past year. The app now boasts a sleek new look, increased customisation options, and new features designed to facilitate chat and social interaction on the move.
Currently, over 150 million people worldwide utilise Discord each month for activities such as studying, participating in clubs, language learning, software creation, sharing daily experiences, and gaming among others.
This year alone, Discord has successfully implemented several user-requested enhancements such as a global Direct Message (DM) search function, simplified media sharing, 43% reduction of app-open time on iOS (55% on Android) and accessibility of more offline messages. Recent improvements also include voice message capability and a 25 MB free file upload limit on mobile.
Discord's Group Product Manager, Francesco Polizzi, cited the shifting user base as a driving force behind these enhancements, explaining that "when we launched the Discord mobile app in 2015, our focus was on building great products for people who play games on PC, with mobile serving as a companion app for when you were away from your keyboard. Now, with more users spending time using Discord on the go, we're excited to roll out a faster, more reliable app than before, designed specifically for mobile."
The updated app sports an improved and user-friendly intuitive Navigation, with redesigned chat organisation adhering to customer feedback. The updated design separates Servers and Messages into different tabs, continuing the vertical server navigation that Discord users are familiar with. To enhance user experience, Discord will continue evolving the new Servers tab for greater app ergonomics and customisation. The focus will remain on increasing mobile user visibility into their server friends activities making for easier interaction.
All Direct Messages (DMs) and Group Direct Messages (GDMs) have been shifted into the Messages tab. This allows mobile users to keep track of all their contacts in real-time. Whether sharing a voice channel, participating in a game or Activity, or simply listening to Spotify, users can favourite specific DMs or GDMs, ensuring they always top the Messages tab. Similarly, the GDM interface has been improved for faster, easier Group Direct Message creation, with a quick Swipe to Reply feature for any chat message.
Updates to Notifications include @mention capability, Server Events, Friend Request updates, and message replies all consolidated in one tab. All notifications will clear automatically as soon as they are read, providing a convenient time-saving feature. Meanwhile, the 'You' tab allows users to access and edit their profile, status, and friends list amongst other options.
Exciting additional updates include an updated Night Mode featuring a pure black Midnight theme saving battery power, an improved media sharing experience facilitating more simultaneous uploads of high-quality images and videos. The app has also updated its voice and video calling UI for a more comfortable experience. Background improvements to the mobile app ensure optimised data consumption, faster loading times, and smoother scrolling.
Continuing its dedication to user experience, Discord has several future improvements planned for the mobile app such as, refined search filters, easy access to server member lists, control over compact list and message appearance in the app, and further enhancements to the app's performance and stability. Discord aims to remain a trailblazer in the digital communication sector, connecting friends and aiding communities worldwide.
