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How To Turn Off Discord DMs PC & Mobile?

There are many creeps, weirdos, and strangers on Discord and it’s understandable that you don’t want to receive messages from them.

Maybe you’re just a little tired of your friends spamming you pointless memes (yeah right) and want to know if you can disable them. Either way, you want to turn off your Discord DMs, and I’m here to show you how.

How To Turn Off Discord DMs On PC?

To turn your DMs off in Discord:

  • Click the gear icon to enter “User Settings”
  • Click “Privacy & Safety” on the left side
  • Disable “Allow direct messages from server members”
In your Privacy & Safety settings, disable the option to allow direct messages from server members.

Now, only your friends will be able to message you and not strangers from random servers you happen to be in. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to disable DMs from your friends.

The closest you can come to disabling friendly DMs on Discord is to click on your profile picture and set your profile to “Do Not Disturb”.

Your friends will still be able to message you, but you will not hear the Discord notification. This may also dissuade some of your friends from contacting you.

I won’t lie, I’m a spammer. If I’m excited and typing extremely fast about something, I may send 10 messages instead of one long one.

If you have a friend like me, the best thing you can do is just let them know that you’d prefer them take their time and send a long message. Trust me, we won’t take it personally.

You can also just let them know you won’t be around for a few hours and set your account to “Do Not Disturb” or even “Invisible” so you can safely ignore their messages until you’re ready for them.

How To Turn Off Discord DMs On Mobile?

To turn off your DMs on Discord on mobile, so that only your friends can DM you:

  • Open your friends list by tapping the menu button in the top-left corner
  • Tap your profile picture in the bottom right corner of the app
  • Tap “Privacy & Safety”
  • Disable “Allow direct messages from server members”
In your Privacy & Safety settings, disable the option to allow direct messages from server members.

There is no way to disable DMs from your Discord friends. You can set your profile status to “Do not disturb” in order to disable Discord notifications, but your friends will still be able to message you.

If you block or unfriend someone, they cannot message you on Discord.

Unfortunately you cannot completely disable DMs on Discord. All you can do is disable DMs from people you don’t know. If that’s all you want, then perfect!

If you just don’t want your friends to DM you for a little bit, all you can do is set your profile to DND (Do not disturb) and hope they leave you alone.

You can set your profile to DND on mobile by tapping the top-left menu icon, then tapping your profile picture in the bottom-right, and then tapping on “Set Status”.

You won’t get any notifications, and this is a nice way to completely disconnect from Discord for a while. Setting your profile to Offline may work a little, but you will still hear and receive notifications.

How To Allow Discord DMs On PC?

To allow DMs on Discord for PC:

  • Click the cog icon in the bottom left “User Settings”
  • Click on “Privacy & Safety”
  • Enable “Allow direct messages from server members”
In your Privacy & Safety settings, enable the option to allow direct messages from server members.

This will allow users that you share a server with to message you. If you do not share a server with someone on Discord, they need to be your friend in order to DM you.

There’s no way for someone to DM you if you do not share a server with them, or have not added them as a friend.

Once someone is your friend, there’s no way to disable their messages without blocking or unfriending them. You can set your profile to “Do Not Disturb” but they can still message you (you just won’t get the notifications”.

How To Allow Discord DMs On Mobile?

To enable Discord DMs on Mobile:

  • Tap the menu icon in the top-left corner, which will bring up your friends list
  • Tap your profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen
  • Tap “Privacy & Safety”
  • Tap and enable “Allow direct messages from server members”
In your Privacy & Safety settings, enable the option to allow direct messages from server members.

This will allow users that you share a server with to message you directly. Anyone that is already your friend on Discord will be able to DM you by default, and there is no way to turn this off.

Why Should You Turn On/Off Discord DMs?

You should turn off Discord DMs if you don’t want strangers to be able to contact you. This is very useful if you join many public servers with people you do not know. If you only join servers with friends and friends of friends, then you may want to keep your DMs on so new friends can easily contact you.

Discord only allows you to turn your DMs on and off for users that aren’t your friend already. If you share a server with someone, you can decide whether you want them to be able to DM you or not.

If you’re only in servers with people you know IRL (in real life), then it’s okay to leave your DMs on. If a friend of a friend needs to contact you for whatever reason, and you share a server with them (through your mutual friend), then they’ll be able to.

If you’re like me then you’ve probably joined countless servers over the years, many of which you don’t even remember joining. In this case you may want to keep your DMs off to avoid spam, trolls, scams, and general stranger danger.

Can You Turn Off DMs From Your Discord Friends?

You cannot turn off DMs from your Discord friends. There’s no way to disallow your friends from messaging you on Discord unless you unfriend or block them. Setting your profile to “Do Not Disturb” will still allow your friends to message you, however it will not notify you or make a sound.

There are not many reasons someone would want to disable DMs from their friends on Discord, so the devs haven’t put in the functionality.

If you’re in this position for whatever reason (annoying friends, spammers, etc), I recommend either going into “Do Not Disturb” mode for a little bit, or just having a conversation with your friend and asking them not to message you. Logging out of Discord may even be the best option.



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👋 Hey There, I'm Eric!

Since 2018, I've been making streams come true.

I like gaming, streaming and watching other people stream. I created this website to help streamers, viewers, and gamers answer questions they have regarding live streaming, gaming, and PCs. I am a Twitch affiliate and currently stream on Twitch 3 days a week. I also have a Youtube channel where I make videos about streaming. I hope you find my content helpful. Feel free to stop by one of my streams to say hi.