How to Fix Discord’s Notifications Not Working [2024]

Discord is really important at this point. For gamers, it is a crucial tool for communication. So, when its notification stops working that is a big concern. You wouldn’t even know if your friend is online because there are no alerts or even worse no notification sounds from Discord.

Well, if you are in a similar conundrum, then this article is for you.Here I have provided solutions for all devices where you can use Discord.

So, without wasting any time let’s start.

Why You Are Not Getting Notifications on Discord?

The primary reason why Discord does not show you any notification is because they are turned off. Maybe you enabled Focus mode on your operating system which blocks any incoming notifications. Or you could have turned off notifications for group and individual conversations on Discord entirely.

There is another reason why this happens, and this is due to server problems. If the network is experiencing problems, that could delay new notifications from arriving.

Another unusual reason I found on forums was when users complained their notifications stopped working after they updated Discord. For older versions, it seemed to work perfectly fine. That was a bug that the developers later fixed with an update.

Now I won’t say that you are experiencing these issues due to the reasons mentioned above. There is a chance that you are facing some weird issues only prevalent on your device. In that case, the fixes mentioned in the section will come handy for you. There are separate sections based on the OS you are currently using Discord.

How to Fix Discord’s Notifications Not Working

Before starting troubleshooting Discord, ensure your internet connection is working properly. Surely you do not want to spend hours troubleshooting and then find that your internet was causing all this mayhem.

When you have ensured this jump right into the fixes mentioned for different platforms.

On PC and Mac

First, check if notifications are allowed on Discord. This should be enabled on a Global level, servers, and individual DMs. Also, do not forget to turn off Focus Mode from the system’s OS. After this check if the Notification timer is not set for a very long time.

So, let’s see how you can do these.

Enable All Notifications on Discord

You can set Global Notifications to turn on or off. Since you are not getting any notifications, enable this from Discord’s settings.

Follow these steps to enable notifications on Discord:

• Open Discord.
• Click the gear icon to open Settings.
• Press on Notifications.
• Turn on the toggle next to Enable Desktop Notifications.

Now close Discord and open it again. Try sending a new message to your account. The new notification should show up now.

If not, try the next fixes below.

Turn on the Server and DM Notifications

You may have done this to stop numerous pop-ups from Discord. So go back to the specific channels and DM’s and unmute the notifications. This will fix the issue when you are not getting notifications from only some specific channels.

These steps will enable notifications on Discord servers and DMs:

• Open Discord.
• Click on the server where the notifications are muted.
• Right-click in General under Text channels and hover the cursor over Notification Settings.
• Select All Messages.

If you have muted more than one server, go do the same steps again. This should allow Discord to show notifications from there now.

Check Notification Timeout Settings

This actually does not fix the notification issue on PC but on mobile devices. The controls are there on the desktop app though.

What this does is delays the time when Discord sends notifications to your phone. Since you are already on a PC or Mac, the same alert is not sent to your phone. As we are troubleshooting no notifications on Discord, you should set the lowest time for the notification timeout.

To do this, open Notifications under App Settings in Discord’s Settings. Choose 1 min as the Notification Inactive Timeout.

Disable Streamer Mode

If streamer mode is enabled, this can block incoming notifications. So make sure to disable this to allow Discord to view alerts.

This is how you can do it:

• Open Discord.
• Click on the gear icon to open Settings.
• Scroll down and click on Streamer Mode.
• Turn off the toggle near Enable Streamer Mode.

Now the notifications should pass through and you can view these on the app.

Disable No Notification Mode on PC and Mac

Windows has a Focus mode that blocks all incoming notifications. While it is a great feature when you need to work on something and not get distracted, you should disable it after your work is done. Then notifications from all apps will start to show up.

These are the steps to disable focus mode on Windows:

For Windows 10:

• Open Settings.
• Search for Focus and open Focus Assist.
• Turn this off.
• Scroll down and set all the rules to off.

And the steps for Windows 11 are as follows:

• Open Settings.
• Navigate to System > Notifications.
• Click on Focus.
• Now press Stop focus session.

This same thing happened to me. During a Zoom meeting, I turned on the Focus Mode in Windows. And that stopped the notifications from Discord. I was clueless as to why I was not getting any new alerts. Luckily, I remembered about disabling the Focus Mode.

Now you also need to see if notifications from all apps are enabled. You can see if only Discord’s notification is blocked from here. If that’s the case, go ahead and re-enable it.

The steps are the same for both Windows 10 and 11.

• On Settings, navigate to System > Notifications.
• Turn on the Notification for all apps.
• Scroll down and find Discord.
• Ensure the toggle next to it is turned on.

Now restart Discord. You should get notifications from Discord now.

Get Back Online on Discord

Sometimes notifications do not show up because you have set your status as Do Not Disturb. In that case, set the status to Online. You can also choose Invisible if you do not want to chat with anyone.

To do this, click on your username and hover over Online. Set the status to Available. After that, you will get alerts for new texts from Discord.

Log Out of Discord

This is sort of a last resort in this troubleshooting. If nothing has worked for you yet, then you can log out and then log back in and see if anything changes.

You could also try to uninstall Discord and install an old version. This can work if your installed version of Discord has some bugs. There are people on Reddit who confirm this fix to be working. So try this out too.

Finally, try contacting Discord Support if every fix mentioned here fails. Those folks will know what is going on with your account in particular.

Fix Discord Notifications on iOS and Android

If you use the Discord mobile app and still are unable to get the Notifications, then follow this section. I have included steps for both iOS and Android separately.

The fixes for the mobile app are very similar to the desktop counterpart. You need to enable system notifications and app permissions specific to Discord. Then disable any no-notification mode from the system.

Let’s take a look at these.

Enable Discord Notifications

First, you need to enable all notifications from Discord’s Settings. This ensures there is no issue from Discord’s end. As the app is the same on both iOS and Android, following the step will work for both devices.

These steps will enable Discord notifications from its mobile app:

• Open the Discord app.
• Tap on your username.
• Scroll down and find Notifications.
• Enable the toggles near System Notifications and In-App Notifications.

Do the notifications start to arrive? If not then maybe you have turned it off from the individual servers. The next part deals with this.

Enable Discord Server’s Notifications

If you have joined 100s of servers and can only receive notifications from some of them, then the rest have the notifications disabled. You need to go into each and every server and enable the notifications.

Here are the steps to enable a Discord server’s notification on the mobile app:

• Open Discord.
• Tap on the server which is experiencing notification issues.
• Swipe to the right and click on the gear icon.
• Tap on Notification Settings.
• Tap on Unmute.
• Under Notification Settings, select All Messages.

Discord will now ping you about all the notifications that you have not attended till now. Get ready to face a tsunami of alerts from your phone if Discord was not used for a while.

Enable Discord DM Notifications

If you muted messages from individuals, then you need to go unmute them. Then Discord will no longer hold them.

Follow the steps to enable notifications from DMs on the Discord mobile app:

• Open Discord.
• Tap on Direct Messages. If you do not see this, slide from the left on your screen to bring it.
• Now tap on the contact whose notifications are muted.
• Press on the username.
• Scroll down and tap on Unmute.

To verify the fix has worked, ask the contacts to send a text. If a notification pops up, you have successfully solved this issue.

These three solutions above should fix your notification issue on the Discord app. My friend had trouble viewing the notifications on his phone and the second one solved it for him.

But if the issue remains, it looks like your phone’s OS has something to do with it. The notifications are getting blocked before it reaches you.

In the next sections, we will see how to fix that.

Enable System Wide Notifications

There is the option to disable notifications from any app on Android and iOS. This is helpful in cases when an app simply won’t stop popping out Notifications.

So, if you did that with Discord, you have the enable it manually. Otherwise, all apps will alert you barring Discord.

This is how you can do it.

Follow these steps to enable notifications from Discord on your phone:

On Android:

• Go to Settings.
• Tap on Manage Apps.
• Scroll down and find Discord from the list.
• Tap on Discord’s Notifications.
• Turn on the toggle near Show Notifications.

Now on an iPhone, you can do the same thing by following these steps

On iOS:

• Open Settings.
• Find Notifications and tap on it.
• Scroll down and tap on Discord.
• Turn on the toggle next to Enable Notifications.

After this is configured, the system will not block any incoming notifications.

Turn off Do Not Disturb Mode

Both Android and iOS have their respective silent modes. Once you enable it, no new alerts will pass through. This applies to not only Discord but every single app that is installed.

Let’s see how you can turn it off.

These steps will disable the silent/do-not-disturb mode on your phone:

On Android:

• Open Settings.
• Tap on Sound and Vibration.
• Find Do not Disturb. Turn off the toggle next to it.

Apple calls its do not disturb mode Focus Mode. Apart from the naming change, the purpose remains the same. So, let’s go and disable it too.

On iOS:

• Open Settings.
• Scroll down and tap on Focus.
• Tap on Do Not Disturb.
• Turn off the toggle next to it.

Once you have disabled the silent mode, notifications from all apps should start arriving.

Clear Cache Files

This is kind of the last resort. If nothing keeps working for you, go ahead and delete the temporary files generated by Discord. This is not a sure fix to make the notifications work but try this as well.

Once you use an app long enough, the size of the cache can increase exponentially. So clearing it will also free up some space on your phone.

These steps will delete Discord’s cache files from your phone:

On Android:

• Open Settings.
• Tap on Manage Apps.
• Scroll down and find Discord from the list.
• Tap on Storage.
• Press the Clear Data button.
• Select Clear Cache from the system prompt.

You will not find any clear cache on iOS. What you need to do is app offloading. Does the same thing as deleting temporary files of a certain app.

This is how you do it.

On iOS:

• Go to Settings.
• Navigate to iPhone Storage under General settings.
• Find Discord from the list of installed apps and tap on it.
• Tap on Offload Now.

Now restart Discord. Does this fix Discord’s notification for you?

Additional Fixes

Well, we went through a lot of steps to troubleshoot Discord’s notification error. If you have got it fixed already, then congrats buddy.

There is not much you can do if the notifications issue persists. Because until now we have fixed system and app notifications. If you consider the server to work properly, then only the problem could be with your Discord app. If a bug causes this, you may need to roll back to an earlier version of the app where the notification was working.

Also, try reinstalling Discord. This once again does not guarantee you an immediate fix, but try it too.

Finally, contact Discord’s support and let them know what’s happening to your app. Let them know what options you have tried and what works or not.

What if You Are Getting The Notifications But No Sound

So, you do see the notifications now. But another problem has arrived in the form of silent alerts. Your PC/Phone does not ping when you get a new DM on Discord.

Strange indeed!

This problem is associated with the sound settings of your device. If the volume is muted or set too low, then you would not hear anything. You need to check this on both Discord’s Settings and Windows.

Well, to fix this follow along the steps. You do not need to apply everything that I’ve mentioned here. If you find a Settings that does not seem right, just make the correct changes.

Check the OS Volume Slider

Low volume on the speakers will not play any sound, let alone notification alerts. So go check the volume levels and increase them if necessary.

Follow these steps to increase the volume on your PC/Phone:

On Windows 10 and 11:

• Right-click on the Speaker icon and click on Open Volume Mixer.
• Adjust the Volume slider. Ensure that the muted icon is removed.
• Set the Output and Input device to the correct headphones/speakers connected to your PC.
• Scroll down and find Discord. Increase its volume slider to the maximum volume.

On Android and iOS:

The Discord mobile app lets you do the same thing. You can adjust the volume or mute/mute it.

Before making the changes on Discord, press the volume slider on your home screen. Adjust the global volume levels so that they are not muted.

Once this is done, head over to Discord. The steps apply to both Android/iOS.

• Open Discord.
• Tap on your Username.
• Scroll down and find Voice. Tap on it.
• Adjust the volume slider under Output Volume and Soundboard. Unmute the speakers if necessary.

Set the Correct Audio Output Device on Discord

If you set Discord to use your headphones as the audio device and look for the speaker to play the notification alerts, then you have got it all wrong.

In that case, check if the headphones are playing the sound back properly. If that’s the case there is no problem with the audio going on.

It’s just that you need to change the audio from Discord’s Settings.

Follow the steps to set the correct Audio output on Discord:

• Open Discord.
• Click on the gear icon to open Settings.
• Press on Voice and Video.
• Under Input and Output Devices, choose your speaker/headphone.
• Adjust the volume sliders under Input, Output volume, and Soundboard.

Now run a test to see if Discord plays back the audio properly.

Also, check how to change sounds on Discord in our separate article.

Turn On Discord’s Notification Sounds 

Discord has separate settings where you can only disable the notification sounds. Not only that, it provides many advanced sound effects which can be turned or off depending on your preference.

So if you do not hear the sound of people texting to you, this particular setting could be disabled. Let’s enable it now.

These steps will enable Discord’s notification sound on the desktop app:

• Open Discord and click the gear icon.
• Click on Notifications.
• Turn on the toggle near Enable Desktop Notifications.
• Scroll down near Disable all Notification Sounds. Turn this toggle off.

Close the Settings menu and re-open Discord. Check if you can hear the notifications now.

Is Discord not ringing for incoming calls? Then check out our separate article where we deal with this.

Disable Streamer Mode

Streamer mode is a privacy-focused option that blurs your personal information so that they are exposed to everyone when you live-stream. That has a domino effect in the form of Notifications getting blocked or you getting no alert sounds from Discord at all.

When you are done live streaming, turn this mode off. This allows the notifications and the alert sounds to pass through. To do this open Discord’s Settings and turn off the toggle near Enable Streamer Mode.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I not getting Discord Notifications?

You will not get notifications from Discord if you have blocked/muted notifications on Discord or set your phone or PC to quiet mode. During this time any message you get will arrive, but you won’t be able to hear it.

Why do I not get notifications from Discord when I am streaming?

When you are streaming, Discord enables the Streaming Mode. By default, this blocks any incoming notifications. Which is why you cannot hear any incoming alert notifications.

Concluding Words

Phew, that was quite a long troubleshooting guide. I hope you did not get bored to death.

Jokes apart, notifications not coming across is both a frustrating and alarming issue. This is a basic feature of any messaging app and thus should work flawlessly.

By now Discord’s notifications should be working for you. If not, don’t get disheartened. Just contact Discord support in that case.

I think I covered all the bases, right?

So take care and it’s time to say goodbye.