Discord helps you send text chats, voice messages, and make video calls. But, you may be wondering how much data the platform takes to execute all these functions. Here’s an article that breaks down how much data Discord uses in an hour and tells you how to check and manage Discord’s data usage.
How Much Data Does Discord Use In One Hour?
It’s estimated that Discord uses between 20-28MB on texts, 6-20 MB on voice calls, 200-350MB on video calls, 5-50MB in downloads, and 1-125MB in uploads per hour.
The Discord team once responded to a tweet from a user who wanted to know the software’s data usage. Their response clarified that the amount of data used depends on what the user is doing on Discord and the time they spend doing it.
How to Check Discord’s Data Usage on PC
Tracking the amount of data you use on Discord can be helpful in budgeting for your data expenses. Here’s a list of steps to help you set up data tracking for Discord on your PC.
- On your windows Pc go to Settings and select Network and Internet.
- In the next window click on Data Usage to see all your apps and the data each has used.
4. Scroll down your list of apps to where Discord is and view the amount of data you have used.
If you are using Mac, click on Activity Monitor > Network to see the data that each app is using.
How to Check Discord’s Data Usage on a Smartphone
If you use Discord on your phone, it is also possible to track the amount of data used. Here’s how to do it:
- Open Settings > Apps.
- Find Discord on the list of apps and choose it.
- Click on Application Data Usage, and you will see Discord’s data usage.
iPhone users can also see their data usage by going to Settings > Cellular and scrolling down to Discord to see how much data the app has used.
How to Manage Data Usage on Discord
Once you check your data usage on Discord, you might realize that you are spending too much data on the app. High data usage means you spend a lot of money on data and maybe even put a strain on your budget. So, here are a few tips on reducing data usage on Discord to spare you those unnecessary expenses.
Adjusting Your Bitrate
Bitrate is what determines your audio quality on Discord. A higher bitrate translates to superior sound quality, which also means higher data usage. This means that reducing bitrate can help lower Discord’s data consumption every time you make a voice or video call. Here are the steps to follow to reduce Bitrate on Discord.
- On your Discord, open the Server you want to manage.
- Navigate to Voice Channels and hover your cursor over the channel whose bitrate you want to change.
- Click the Settings icon that appears.
- Adjust the bitrate slider to your desired mark.
- Click on Save Changes.
Maintaining a bitrate at around 64kbps will give clear audio and reduce data consumption.
Turning off Stickers
Sticker suggestions can be useful, but they may not be worth the amount of data they will cost you each time they pop up. Turning them will help you save on data usage. Here is a step by step on turning off your animated stickers.
- Click the User Settings icon at the bottom left of the screen.
- Scroll to Text & Images under App Settings.
- Under the Stickers setting, turn off Sticker Suggestions.
Disabling System Notifications
Often, Discord sends you notifications. These notifications help you know what’s going on in your account, but they also keep background data running.
Disabling notifications can therefore reduce the amount of background data used on Discord. You can disable system notifications by clicking on User Settings > Notifications and then turn off the Enable Desktop Notifications feature.
Managing Media Display
You can also adjust how images and links are displayed on your chats. Large files consume more data and so compressing your media can help you save data. To compress images go to User Settings > Text & Images > Image Compression > Auto-compress Images. This can lower the data used to load images.
The other way to manage your media is by preventing links from loading website previews. To disable this option go to User Settings > Text & Images > Link Preview and disable the Show Website Preview option,
Turning off Plug-ins
Discord comes with many plugins, especially for the desktop app. Despite being useful, these plugins drain data quickly, so switching off the ones you don’t use often is advisable.
To turn off Discord plugins, navigate to User Settings > Better Discord > Plugins, and turn off all plugins that are not necessary.
How Does Discord’s Data Usage Compare to Other Messaging Apps?
Discord uses more data than other popularly used messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram. But, it also runs more processes and has more advanced features than either of these apps, which explains its data consumption.
Why Does Discord on PC Use More Data Than Discord on Mobile?
Discord’s desktop app uses more data than the mobile app. This happens because your computer’s operating system runs the background process when running Discord. Things like your speakers and camera are running as you make voice and video calls, and software updates make the PC app more data-intensive.
Mobiles often ask for permission to close apps running in the background, effectively reducing data usage.
This also happens because Discord mobile has fewer demanding functions than the desktop app. While the Desktop version is better suited for streaming, the mobile version works better for texting and voice calls with friends, lowering its data consumption.
Does Discord Slow Down the Internet?
There are claims that users experience reduced WiFi speeds when using Discord, especially for calls. However, there isn’t much evidence to back these claims yet.
Wrapping Up
Data usage on Discord mainly depends on your activities and the device you access Discord from. More demanding uses like video streaming and voice chats are data-intensive, and so are devices like PCs. All in all, Discord is a wonderful messaging app, and once you know how to manage its data consumption, you will thoroughly enjoy its benefits.
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