this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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Privacy

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Are there any privacy friendly Discord clients or frontends?

I have the impression it's against their TOS to use an alternative client, so is it worth it to even use one?

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[–] Madbrad200@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

You won't get banned for using a 3rd-party client or client mod, unless you abuse the API in doing so (which you're not likely to do accidentally).

Anyway, the short answer is: yes.

I think all of the major client mods on PC have anti-tracking plugins. I use Vencord which comes with a "NoTrack" plugin by default (it disables Discord telemetry, metrics, and crash reporting). It also has a "ClearURLs" plugin that removes tracking elements from URLs. BetterDiscord also has similar plugins.

You can couple these with OpenAsar (it's compatible with all client mods - I use it alongside Vencord). Along with speeding up your Discord, it also comes with a "DoNotTrack" plugin that disables discord telemetry.


On Android, you can use Vendetta which, again, has a "NoTrack" Plugin you can add that disables discord telemetry and tracking.

[–] sprl@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Thanks for OpenAsar, I'd love to resize discord.

[–] Vexz@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You won’t get banned for using a 3rd-party client or client mod

That is not true. A few people have been banned because they used BetterDiscord. It's rare but it happened before. That's why I stopped using it.

[–] Madbrad200@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This has only ever happened because of plugins that hammer the api

[–] Vexz@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But still I wouldn't risk it because it's against the TOS. It can happen and nobody knows if they ever take stronger action.

[–] Madbrad200@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've used them since 2016. I really doubt anyone has gotten banned for anything other than using plugins that spam the API or access experimental features you're not meant to have.

The risk is yours to take though so, fair enough.

[–] miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did they recently reevaluate their stance on banning 3rd party clients? Because I'm pretty sure I was banned for exactly that, about two years ago.

[–] Madbrad200@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It would've been because you used a plugin that spammed the api

[–] miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Not to my knowledge, but oh well. Turns out I much prefer life without Discord anyway, but it's still annoying that they never actually told me what the ban was for.

[–] Vexz@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

But still I wouldn't risk it because it's against the TOS. It can happen and nobody knows if they ever take stronger action.