New features often carry bugs and that is true with any app including Discord. A common bug I find on Discord is where messages do not load showing an error message, and sometimes I cannot even send the message. This happens on both Discord DMs and in text channels on the server. As Discord does not provide any settings for text messages, here are a few things that you can do to fix Discord messages that failed to load.
Table of Contents
1. Check Wi-Fi or Mobile Data
One of the common reasons for not loading messages properly is having issues with the Internet connection. The internet connection may be slow. So make sure that you have properly connected to the Wi-Fi or mobile data and that there are no issues with your router. Try opening any website in a browser or try connecting to the same Wi-Fi on another device.
If everything is fine, check the speed of your internet. When there are a lot of messages that are yet to be read, Discord sometimes finds it hard to load messages on slow internet connections.
2. Enable Mobile Data for the Discord App (iPhone)
If you have no issues with the mobile data and messages are failing to load only on Discord, you may have accidentally disabled mobile data for the Discord app on your iPhone. This setting is normally used to save data on some apps, sometimes leading to unwanted outcomes.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Then select the Mobile Data option. Here you can scroll down and check if the mobile data is turned off for Discord. If the toggle is turned off, turn it on for the Discord app to get the data.
3. Uninstall Third-Party Firewall Apps (Android)
Unlike on iOS, there are no such options to disable mobile data on Android. But, there are many internet-blocking third-party firewall apps on Android like Netguard. If you are using any such apps, make sure that they are not interfering with Discord. These firewall apps also block Wi-Fi networks along with mobile data.
4. Turn off Firewall for Discord (Windows and Mac)
Just like on mobile, you can disable the network connection for specific apps on Windows and Mac too. On Windows, you have Windows Firewall inbuilt into the OS and on Mac, you should find it in the Network settings. Unlike on mobile, the process to disable these firewall rules can be lengthy and finicky on desktop platforms. But you can easily check and turn off the firewall by following these steps.
5. Disable VPN on All Platforms
Another reason for network problems can be VPN apps. If you are using a VPN connection, there can be a good chance that your network is becoming slower or Discord is having issues loading messages. Try disabling the VPN and see if Discord messages are still not loading.
6. Reload (Web) or Restart (Mobile) App
If there is no issue with the network, there may be something wrong with the Discord app itself. The first thing you should try is restarting the app. Instead of just closing and opening the app. Make sure to remove the app from the RAM too. Here’s how.
On Android and iOS, close the app and remove Discord from the recent apps page. Now open Discord again and check if messages are loading or sending correctly.
On Windows, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to open the Task Manager. In the Task Manager, right-click on the Discord app and then select the End task option.
On Mac, open the Activity Monitor app. Under the CPU tab, select Discord, and click on the cross icon in the top bar. In the pop-up, select the Force Quit option to completely quit the application.
7. Discord Servers Can Be Down
While it’s not common for the Discord servers to go down, it can happen once in a while. If the issue is with Discord itself, you cannot do anything except wait until the servers are up and running again. You can check if Discord servers are down on downdetector.com.
8. Update Discord App
It is a good idea to run the latest version of Discord to prevent such issues. You can update Discord from the App or Play Stores or visit the Discord download page to find links.
9. Disable Desktop Browser Extensions
If you are using the web app instead, a browser extension may be preventing Discord messages from being sent or download. Instead of removing extensions from the browser completely, simply disable them and check if the problem resolves and which extension is causing the issue.
You can disable extensions from the extensions page on most browsers. To do that, click on the kebab menu (three-dot menu) at the top right corner, then select More tools and select the Extensions option from here.
Now you can disable all the extensions and check if it solved the issue. If the issue is resolved, try enabling extensions one by one and check if the problem is happening. This way you can easily find the extension that is causing the issue. You can find more details about disabling the extensions on browsers in this article.
10. Check Discord Server Permissions
If the Discord messages are failing to load or aren’t being sent on a specific server, then most probably you don’t have permission to read messages on the channel you are trying to view. You cannot check for your permissions nor can change them, but you can contact the server moderator to check it for you.
11. Are You Blocked by That User or Server
If you can’t read or send messages on a specific server or to a user, then most probably you are blocked by that user or banned from that server. There will be no other signs or error messages displayed if you got banned. While personal DM bans are permanent, most bans on the servers are temporary. Some bans can be 15 minutes long while some can be for a few days. You just have to wait until the ban is lifted to begin messaging again.
12. Check Whether Your Discord Account Is Banned
There is a possibility that you might have been banned from Discord by the Discord team. Compared to other social media apps, getting banned from Discord is rare and not a common thing. Anyhow, if that’s the case, Discord will send you an email about the ban. If you haven’t received any email from Discord, then you are not banned. Continue reading.
13. Clear Cache (Android, Browser, and Windows)
You might have already tried reopening the app, but even when you do that, the app’s cache data is stored on your device. This is done to improve your experience like less time to open Discord and quickly load the settings. But the same stored data can cause issues like the one where Discord messages aren’t loading or caching properly in this case.
To remove cache on Android, open Settings app > Apps > Discord > Storage and cache and then tap on the Clear cache option.
On Browser, open Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data, here just enable Cached images and files and click on the Clear data button. This will remove the cache of every website, not just Discord.
On Windows, press Win +R to open Run, type %appdata%, and press Enter to open app data in File Explorer. Now open the discord folder and delete Cache. Code Cache and GPUCache folders here.
14. Re-Install Discord
If none of these solutions worked, try reinstalling Discord for a fresh start. You can uninstall and reinstall Discord on Android, iOS, and Mac. It will clear all the system data automatically for you. But if you have a problem on Windows, you have to manually delete the system data before you reinstall it.
On Android, open Settings > Apps > Discord and then tap on Uninstall to uninstall the app.
On iOS, long press the app icon on the home screen and then tap on the Remove App option. In the pop-up, tap on Delete App to uninstall the app.
On Mac, Open Finder > Applications, and here select Discord and press Command + Option + Delete to uninstall Discord. Once done, use services like CleanMyMac X to remove any remaining junk left by Discord.
On Windows, you can uninstall the application from Settings > Apps > Installed Apps and click on the kebab menu (three-dot menu) beside Discord. Then click on the Uninstall option in the menu to uninstall Discord.
To remove app data, press Windows + R to open the Run prompt. Then type %appdata%, and press Enter to open app data in File Explorer. In File Explorer, delete the Discord folder by right-clicking and selecting the Delete option. Also, type %localappdata% in Run and delete the Discord folder from here too.
Now you can reinstall the Discord app from their app stores. If you are having any issues with installation, check out this article that will help to install Discord with no issues.
Message Received
Discord should work normally in any of the ways mentioned above. We have cleared problems with the internet, OS, and Discord itself. If your problem is with the message notifications instead of the messages themselves, check out this guide to solve your Discord notification issues.
