Discord is a place where friends, family, and communities come together to make connections and hangout. Every day people come here to build community and discuss all sorts of topics, play both casual and competitive games, and sometimes even learn something new!
For a more in depth look into how Discord works, please check out our article on a Beginner’s Guide to Discord.
We are dedicated to making Discord a safe space for all. Family Center is a new tool we’ve built to help parents and guardians better understand how their teens use Discord, get insights into the communities they are a part of, and develop collaborative approaches to build positive online behaviors.
You can access Family Center by selecting this link or by heading into your User Settings within the Discord App.
For additional resources on how to better shape your Discord experience, please check out our Safety Center.
What this article covers:
How to set up Family Center
Desktop/Browser
To connect your account with your teen, you’ll first need to have the Discord app installed on your mobile device. While you can get started with and access Family Center on a browser, you can only complete the connection process with your teen by using the Discord mobile app. After installing the app or opening Discord, tap on Family Center in User Settings and toggle the Enable Family Center tab.
To connect to your teen in Family Center, your teen needs to provide you with the generated QR code that is located in their Family Center tab under the Connect with Parent option. Scan the QR code with your Discord app and after your teen accepts the connection, you’ll both have full access to Family Center!
Once connected, you can head into Family Center by tapping on My Family to see any connected teens there.
If you’d like to learn more about Family Center for teens, you can check out this article.
Mobile
If you have the Discord app installed on your mobile device, you can head into your User Settings by pressing your profile icon.
After navigating to your User Settings, select the Family Center tab. Once you’re in Family Center, press My Family to scan your teen’s QR code located in their Family Center tab under the Connect with Parent option.
How to use Family Center
Once you’ve connected to your teen, you’ll be able to see the following information by heading to Family Center and tapping on the My Family tab:
- Recently added friends, including their display names and avatars
- Which users your teen has messaged or called in direct or group messages, including their display names, avatars, and the times of the last message or call
- Servers joined or participated in, including server names, server icons, and server member counts
In addition to seeing information about your teen’s recent activity through Family Center, you’ll also receive weekly updates containing a high level summary of their activity via email.
The Family Center dashboard and weekly update emails will only contain information about activity occurring after the teen has accepted the connection request.
You will not see what messages your teen has sent, only the users they have messaged.
Although you can disconnect at any time, the month your teen turns 18 years old, they will be automatically disconnected from all connected parents in Family Center.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why can I only see the last 7 days of activity?
A: Our goal is to surface information in ways that are timely, not overwhelming, and helpful in starting conversations about online safety. Family Center highlights information in a 7 day period in order to provide contextually relevant information for parents and guardians.
Q: Discord thinks my teen is 25 but they are actually 13. How can I update their age?
A: When a user signs up for Discord, we ask for their age to verify that they meet the minimum age requirement in their country. It sounds like your teen may have made an error when inputting their date of birth. To correct this, please have your teen contact Discord at dis.gd/request > Update My Age Information. Be sure to have them include their actual age in their request.
Q: How can I flag inappropriate activity to Discord?
A: As a parent, we encourage you to spend some time reviewing and discussing your teen’s settings so that you can customize their Discord experience and avoid unwanted experiences. You can learn more about Discord’s safety settings here.
Additionally, if your teen encounters a violation of our Community Guidelines please have them submit an in-app report of the behavior by following the instructions here.
In sensitive situations, if you would like to report the behavior on your teen's behalf, you can do so by following the instructions here.
Q: My teen won't allow me to connect Family Center, how can I make them?
A: Both parents/guardians and teens must voluntarily opt into connecting to Family Center. If your teen has additional questions about information shared via Family Center they can learn more here. We encourage you to talk with your teen to customize a Discord experience that is right for the whole family.
Q: Why can't I link to my teen’s account?
A: If a user has their age set to 18 or older, you will not be able to link to their account. Your teen will have to correct their age on Discord before you are able to link to the account.
To do this, please have your teen contact Discord at dis.gd/request > Update My Age Information. Be sure to have them include their actual age in their request.
Please note that Discord has minimum age requirements depending on the country your teen is in. In most countries, the minimum age to use Discord is 13. You can review Discord’s minimum age requirements by country here.
Q: How can I lock safety settings on my teen’s account?
A: Family Center is designed to be a tool to help parents and teens have conversations about safe and healthy use of Discord. We encourage you to talk to your teen about how to customize settings in a way that supports your family's safety goals.
Learn more about Discord's settings here.
Q: How can I join a server my teen is in?
A: Every server on Discord is different and each has their own custom join settings and rules around invites to fit the needs of the community.
To learn more about a server your teen is a part of, we encourage you to discuss and review the server together.
Q: Why can't I see all of my teens' friends?
A: Family Center is designed to provide parents with their teens' recent activity. At this time we only provide information about their activity on Discord within the last seven days. This includes the number of users they’ve messaged or called, the number of new friends they’ve added, and how many servers they’re actively participating in. Family Center won’t contain a complete archive of activity and will only highlight activity occurring after your teen has accepted your connection request.
Q: Can I make changes to my teen's friend list or joined servers?
A: Family Center does not allow any connected parent to make modifications or changes to their teen’s friend list or joined servers on their teen’s behalf. For security and privacy reasons, only account owners can make modifications on their account.
As a parent/guardian, we encourage you to leverage Family Center as a way to spend some time reviewing and discussing your teen’s settings so that you can help customize their Discord experience. We’ve outlined some discussion starters and tips for helping keep your teen safe on Discord here: https://discord.com/safety/360044153831-helping-your-teen-stay-safe-on-discord
Q: How many teens can I connect to in Family Center?
A: Parents and guardians are able to connect to a maximum of 8 accounts.
Q: I don't want my teen talking to this user, can I do anything?
A: If you feel uncomfortable with someone your teen is engaging with, we encourage you to talk to your teen about your concerns. We want to make you aware of the tools available to your teen on Discord, such as our sensitive content filter and spam filters. You can also block specific users who you or your teen do not wish to communicate with anymore. Instructions on how to do so can be found here.
Discord takes our teen users' security and safety very seriously. If you believe there is a violation of our Community Guidelines, we ask that you report this behavior to us. You can find more information on how to submit a request here.
Q: If I accidentally remove my teen’s connection, do they need to re-allow me to connect?
A: Yes. For security and privacy reasons, once a parent has disconnected from a teen, they must go through the connection process again in order to re-establish their connection with that teen.
Q: Can I see if another user is connected to my teen in Family Center?
A: Yes, connected parents and guardians can see every account their teen has connected to in Family Center. An email confirmation with the newly linked account will be sent to the email address associated to the parent/guardian Discord account.