Frequent Questions
The purpose of this page is to answer commonly asked questions regarding the BetterDiscord client mod and installer. This page should not be treated as documentation.
Documentation is still under construction. Some links may either work improperly or not be added.
1. How do I install this?
- Download our installer from here and open it.
- Agree to the license.
- Select «Install BetterDiscord» from the list of options.
- Choose your current discord build.
- Click the «Install» button, and discord should restart with BetterDiscord installed.
2. The installer isn’t working.
- Run the installer you used to originally download BetterDiscord. If you don’t have that, you can get it here.
- Agree to the license.
- Select «Repair BetterDiscord» from the list of options.
- Choose your current discord build.
- Click the «Repair» button and see if that resolves the issue.
3. Is this against the terms of service?
Yes. BetterDiscord violates Discord’s terms of service by modifying the client, although there is no evidence that discord either cares or takes actions against users who modify their client. Your account is not at risk for simply using BetterDiscord alone. Abusing the service or using plugins which further violate the Terms of Service can get your account terminated, however. All plugins from our official website are safe.
4. Can BetterDiscord get me banned?
As mentioned in the last question, discord does not hand out bans for simply using BetterDiscord. If you abuse the service to further violate discord’s policies, you risk account suspension.
5. Does this work on mobile?
No. Mobile builds of discord are built on entirely different frameworks, and are not compatible with BetterDiscord.
6. Does this work on browser/chromebook?
No. BetterDiscord requires the full desktop app to load.
7. How do I download themes?
- Find a theme you like from our themes page.
- Click the «Download» button on the theme you want.
- Ensure you have BetterDiscord installed. If you don’t, refer to question #1.
- Open your discord user settings. Near the very bottom, there should be a themes tab. Click it.
- At the top of the themes page, click the «Open themes folder» button.
- Drag the file you downloaded into the themes folder that opened.
8. How do I download plugins?
- Find a plugin you like from our plugins page.
- Click the «Download» button on the plugin you want.
- Ensure you have BetterDiscord installed. If you don’t, refer to question #1.
- Open your discord user settings. Near the very bottom, there should be a plugins tab. Click it.
- At the top of the plugins page, click the «Open plugins folder» button.
- Drag the file you downloaded into the plugins folder that opened.
9. How do I uninstall BetterDiscord?
- Run the installer you used to originally download BetterDiscord. If you don’t have that, you can get it here.
- Agree to the license.
- Select «Uninstall BetterDiscord» from the list of options.
- Choose your current discord build.
- Click the «Uninstall» button, and discord should restart with BetterDiscord removed.
10. Can I use BD on linux?
Yes. You can either use the AppImage build of our GUI installer, or attempt a manual injection.
11. Can I see deleted messages?
Message loggers are in violation discord’s API terms and privacy policy, and can result in account termination. We will not provide such plugins.
12. How do twitch emotes work?
Typing the name of most BTTV, FFZ and Twitch subscriber emotes in chat will show the emote image in it’s place. Only BetterDiscord users can see these emotes.
13. Is there an account switching plugin?
Account switchers put users at unnessecary risk by storing either their account token or email/password combo. We will not provide such plugins.
14. BetterDiscord is causing discord to crash on startup.
This is likely caused by a broken plugin. Locate your plugins folder and delete whichever plugin might be causing the crash.
If that doesn’t work, try completely wiping your BetterDiscord data folder and reinstalling.
If neither of those instructions worked, join our discord community for support.
15. How can I delete all of my messages in a DM/Server?
Automating requests through discord’s API will get your account flagged for selfbotting which can result in account termination. Additionally, sending requests in rapid succession is a form of API spam which increases the odds of being flagged. As such, we will not provide any plugins that do this.
16. How safe are themes/plugins?
Plugins should be treated like any other program installed on your computer. They have direct access to both your account and filesystem. All plugins from our official repository are checked for malicious code and must follow our guidelines. Anything downloaded outside of this website is out of our control. Themes are for the most part harmless and pose no threat to you.
17. Can I get free nitro with this?
BetterDiscord is a client-side modification, not a hacking tool. Attempting to bypass server-side permissions (for example, screenshare quality) can result in account termination.
18. I can’t find a theme that I like.
If you are knowledgeable of CSS, you can edit the preset variables of most themes using a text editor. Otherwise, you can customize themes with a theme generator.
19. My theme looks broken.
If your theme is partially broken, you should contact the developer. Themes need consistent management and will break over time if the author doesn’t update it frequently.
20. Is BetterDiscord safe?
BetterDiscord contains no malicious code, nor does it collect any meaningful user data without your knowledge. The source code for both the client mod and installer are freely available for anyone to view on GitHub.
21. Do you have an automatic status changer plugin?
Automating server-side actions through discord’s API is considered selfbotting, and therefore highly bannable under discord’s API terms. Additionally, using such a plugin spam’s discord’s API with HTTP requests which will get your account flagged and terminated.
22. Can discord detect if I am using BetterDiscord?
BetterDiscord runs entirely clientside, and discord has no clientside checks for such modifications. Even if they did, discord has not been known to ban for client modding, nor has there ever been a proven ban case for client modding alone. Using unofficial plugins which utilize server-side API calls can get your account flagged for selfbotting, however.
23. My theme/plugin is not showing up on the themes/plugins page.
Make sure the file name of your theme/plugin does not contain a number at the end. All themes and plugins must end in *.theme.css or *.plugin.js . Downloading an addon twice is a common reason for the addon not showing up in settings lists, as most operating systems append a (1) at the end of a duplicate file.
How do I upgrade Discord to v 0.0.12? [duplicate]
Today I saw that I could update Discord on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS to version 0.0.12. The problem now is that in the Ubuntu Software the newest version is 0.0.11. I also cannot open the .deb file that discord downloads for the update in Ubuntu Software. I also tried to uninstall and reinstall Discord through Ubuntu Software. I also tried to update through the command line with the snap. I used snap refresh discord and it said that there were no updates available. The message I get every time I open Discord:
117k 55 55 gold badges 319 319 silver badges 497 497 bronze badges
asked Sep 10, 2020 at 19:22
285 1 1 gold badge 3 3 silver badges 7 7 bronze badges
This question should be re-opened. The fundamental problem here is that Discord’s internal update mechanism does not complete quickly: you click on the «Download» button shown above, but nothing seems to happen. Download a .deb from the Discord website and installing it from the terminal is one possible solution, but there may well be a better solution. E.g. maybe Discord is looking for dpkg in the wrong place — there are many possibilities, but we won’t know if the question is closed. The issue is still not fixed with 0.0.13 BTW.
Dec 5, 2020 at 10:02
It seems in the begining you install Discord using .deb file, Even I did same but now this what I did to get rid of this update thing. —- 1) First find discord using dpkg -l | grep discord —- 2) Remove previous Discord installed through dpkg using apt-get —purge remove discord
ObserverOfTime / BDLinux.md
This Gist contains simple instructions on how to install, update, and uninstall BetterDiscord on Linux.
For more thorough documentation, take a look at betterdiscordctl ‘s README.
Do NOT submit issues here as I don’t check the comments. You should submit them here instead.
$ curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bb010g/betterdiscordctl/master/betterdiscordctl $ chmod +x betterdiscordctl $ sudo mv betterdiscordctl /usr/local/bin You can then keep betterdiscordctl up to date with this command:
$ sudo betterdiscordctl self-upgrade Replace [COMMAND] with install to install BD for the first time, reinstall to reinstall BD after a Discord update, or uninstall to uninstall an existing installation.
$ betterdiscordctl [COMMAND] $ betterdiscordctl --flavor PTB [COMMAND] - For Canary
$ betterdiscordctl --flavor Canary [COMMAND] - For Snap
$ betterdiscordctl --d-install snap [COMMAND] - For Flatpak
$ betterdiscordctl --d-install flatpak [COMMAND] HeyaGlitz commented Apr 5, 2021
I’m back again, forgot to mention that yes, I too do get an alert that I can download the desktop version, despite being on the desktop version, why and how would they include that in the desktop app anyways?
SpectrixDev commented Apr 5, 2021
Looks like latest Discord update (at least for Linux) makes the application a . web wrapper? I was given the orange banner advising I should install the desktop version. which I thought I did. 😛 This would also explain why BD says its installed while the options are nowhere to be found in the Settings. Don’t know if that helps.
Same thing for me, running on Arch with flatpak
Saniee commented Apr 5, 2021 •
Please all people here that are experiencing problems, download the Beta version/installer which works here = https://github.com/BetterDiscord/Installer/releases/latest
SpectrixDev commented Apr 5, 2021
This resolves all the problems. This gist is now out of date, rather just use the installer.
Mimich-FR commented Apr 7, 2021
Yes, the new official installer works perfectly.
In the past i use betterdiscordctl(thanks for work bb010g) but is finish.
ObserverOfTime commented May 24, 2021
betterdiscordctl and this gist have now been updated.
eiglow commented May 27, 2021 •
The gist says to use betterdiscordctl -i flatpak install .
I tried to run that, and I just got ERROR: Unknown top-level option: -i .
EDIT: betterdiscordctl —d-install flatpak install works. Took me a few tries to figure it out though, imo it’s a bit unclear.
8jd commented May 28, 2021
i need help when i do betterdiscordctl —flavor Canary install it says ERROR: Unknown top-level option: —flavor
Use betterdiscordctl —help for more information. any fix? btw i installed the appimage
.
HeyaGlitz commented May 30, 2021
@8jd —flavor is not a valid option, use -f
betterdiscordctl -f canary install
RandomExplosion commented Jul 21, 2021 •
is there any plan to make this work with discord_arch_electron
RandomExplosion commented Jul 21, 2021
i’m referring to the official aur repo by that name
SmolAlli commented Nov 3, 2021
Please update it to link to the current BetterDiscord repository (https://github.com/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord)
BLVCKLVND commented Dec 9, 2021
How do I put a theme on BetterDiscord Linux Version?
SmolAlli commented Dec 9, 2021
@BLVCKLVND Join the BetterDiscord server for help on that regard here
kyb3rcipher commented Dec 23, 2021
working on Ubuntu with flatpak
command:
betterdiscordctl --d-install flatpak install Hri7566 commented Feb 8, 2022
using the snap version of discord, i have absolutely no clue where to find the plugins folder, and the button in the plugins menu does nothing
Vcyberpunk commented Mar 5, 2022
betterdiscordctl, или как быстро сломать discord
tw1nkey commented Mar 10, 2022
Ubuntu says i don’t have discord install
PedroMTSilva commented Mar 15, 2022 •
Hey, i had this problem too. To solve it download the file from their website, it will download as an .appImage file, it shoud be this: «BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage» go to your downloads directory and do the following:
$ chmod +x BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage
$ ./BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage
And it should run the normal installer with no problems. Now the problem that i have is that it’s not finding the discord install to install BD. :/
EDIT: after reading a bit up above, the command betterdiscordctl —d-install flatpak install works for me.
saku-bruh commented Apr 16, 2022
Hey, i had this problem too. To solve it download the file from their website, it will download as an .appImage file, it shoud be this: «BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage» go to your downloads directory and do the following: $ chmod +x BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage $ ./BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage And it should run the normal installer with no problems. Now the problem that i have is that it’s not finding the discord install to install BD. :/
EDIT: after reading a bit up above, the command betterdiscordctl —d-install flatpak install works for me.
thats so god damn dumb lmao should revise the tutorial as its kind of useless aside from the install atm
shinji257 commented Apr 20, 2022
Thanks for this. I’m on Linux Mint and using the Flatpak version of Discord. Went and used betterdiscordctl and had it install for flatpak and it worked first try. You do not need to download the Better Discord AppImage installer as betterdiscordctl takes care of installing it for you. Yay!
This is all part of my (inevitable) transition to Linux Mint.