What Does The Red Circle On Discord Mean? (Red Dot)

Discord launched in 2015, is an instant messaging social media app. With Discord, users can connect with people and communities called servers. It is a go-to app for many people because of the features that it provides. But there are some features that people want to avoid. One of the features is the red dot on Discord. 

If you use Discord, you might have encountered a red circle on the Discord icon or Discord avatar. And if you are wondering what does the red circle on Discord means and how to fix it, then you are at the right place.

In this article, we will explain why the red dot appears and also how to get rid of it if you do not want it. 

Why does red dot on Discord appear? 

Most people think that the red dot is a bug. But it is a feature launched by Discord. Two types of Red dots appear in Discord. A red dot appears on the Discord avatar with a black line. Another one is just a red dot on the Discord app icon.

Now let's see when the two dot appears and what they mean.

Do not disturb status

Discord allows users to set a status icon from among the 5 that they offer. The 5 status icons are Green, Red, Yellow, Grey, and Purple.

Green means that the user is online, Yellow means the user is idle, Grey means they are offline, purple means the user is streaming and the red dot with a black line inside means Do Not Disturb. 

The red dot means that the user will not receive any notifications and they also do not want to be disturbed. 

Unread messages

If you see a red dot on the Discord icon in your Windows Taskbar or your phone screen, it simply means that you have new messages. 

Although it is a feature but can be pretty annoying when you receive messages all the time on a server.

How to fix red dot on discord? 

Now that you know what does the red circle on Discord means, let's have a look at how we can get rid of it permanently from the icon as well as your avatar. 

We have mentioned different methods for status icons and unread messages. Make sure that you know what red dot you want to get rid of and then follow the respective method.  

Method 1 - Mark messages as read

When you have unread messages on Discord, the red dot will appear on the Discord icon. So to get rid of it, you have to either read all the messages or mark them as read. 

Here’s how you can do that:

1. First of all open Discord Application on Desktop or your Smartphone.
2. Now find the users or servers in which you have unread messages. 
3. Right-click on it. A menu with several options will appear. 
4. Click on Mark As Read. This will tell Discord that you have read all the messages. 
5. Do this for all the servers and the red circle from your Discord icon will be removed. 

Note - This is a temporary solution. When you get some more messages, the red circle on Discord will appear again.

Method 2 - Disable notifications of a channel

Are you on a server where you keep getting unimportant messages all the time? No matter how many times you mark messages as read, the red dot will appear again. In that case, you should try disabling the notifications of the channel.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open the Discord app on your PC or Phone. 
2. Now find the server from where you are getting constant messages. 
3. Right-click on it and select Notification Settings from the several options.
4. A new pop-up will appear. Here find the mute button and turn it on. 
5. Select the time duration for how long you want to mute the server. 
6. This will get you rid of the red circle on Discord because of constant notifications from a channel.

Note - Do not mute a channel that is important to you because you won't get any notifications and may miss some important messages. 

Method 3 - Turn off the unread message badge setting

This is the best method to get rid of the red dot on Discord that appears because of unread messages. In this method, you turn off Discord’s feature of showing a red badge when there are unread messages. 

Here’s how you can turn the badge off to remove the red circle on Discord permanently:

1. Open the Discord App on your device. 
2. Open user settings. You can open them by clicking on the settings icon next to your username. 
3. Now scroll down and find the Notifications option under App Settings. 
4. After clicking on it, you will see an option “Enable Unread Message Badge”. Toggle it off by clicking on the green button. 
5. Press Esc to Exit or click on the cross. 
6. Now you won't see the red circle on Discord even if you have unread messages. 

Method 4 - Change your status to remove the red dot with black line

In case you want to get rid of the red circle that appears at the bottom of your avatar, then you need to change your status from do not disturb to anything else. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Discord on your device. 
2. Find your username and click on it. 
3. Below Discord Member Since, you will find an option Do not Disturb.
4. Click on it. A menu will expand. From that menu, you can choose from Online, Idle, or Invisible. 
5. This will remove the red circle with a black line. 

Conclusion

The red dot is a feature launched by Discord which is frustrating for many Discord users. Some don't even know why the Red Dot on Discord appears and want to get rid of it. In this article, we explained what the red circle on Discord means and how to toggle it off.

If you don't like it, we hope that you were able to turn it off. In case you were unable to do it, feel free to ask us in the comments section. We would be happy to help you out.