Discord is one of the most popular messaging applications that are currently out there, and it’s an amazing app if you’d like to keep in touch with your friends or join Discord communities. The app is known for its text and voice channels, but can you also Facetime on Discord? It turns out that you can, although it’s not via the Facetime protocol, but rather a regular video chat. Continue reading to see our easy and simple how-to guide to video chat (or Facetime if you’d like to call it that) on Discord.
What do you need to Facetime on Discord
It may sound like an absolutely obvious answer, but you’ll definitely need a Discord account and the Discord app on your system before you can Facetime on there with somebody. The person or people you’ll be communicating with will also need to have Discord installed. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got Discord on pc, mac, browser, or via one of the mobile apps – they all support video calls and regular calls.
Also, make sure that your microphone and your selfie camera (or webcam if you’re on a computer) are working properly. You can always test your equipment in the Discord Settings menu underneath “Input Devices”. Discord is free to download and the video calls are also free of charge.
How to join a Discord video call
Even though the app is supposed to be really intuitive and user-friendly, it can be a bit confusing if you’re using it for the very first time. In the interface whenever you’re in a Discord server (or in a private chat with someone), you won’t be able to see a Video or Facetime icon at first.
Before you can initiate a Discord video call, you have to start a regular voice call first. You can identify Discord voice channels with the “sound” icon next to their name. When you’ve joined one of these voice chats, you’ll see that the sound settings at the bottom of your screen have changed. If everything’s alright, you’ll spot the “Voice Connected” sign in green. If your text is in orange or red, it means that your connection isn’t ideal.
Note: if you’re already in the orange or in the red zone during a regular voice call, that also means that the internet connection is clearly unstable or not fast enough to support a video call.
You’ll spot two new buttons in the interface: a video button as well as a share button. Hit the first button if you’d like to Facetime and show your face (or what the back of your camera is seeing, as you can flip between both) to initiate a video conversation. The other person or people in the voice channel won’t be forced to switch to video right away, they can keep calling via audio-only until they enable their camera as well.
What does the Screen button do?
If you’re wondering what that big Screen button does right next to the video, you’re not the only one. With this button, you can share whatever is going on on your screen, although this will only work if you’re on Discord on your computer. This is absolutely perfect if you want to show something live to your friends or to your Discord community, for example. Perfect if you need to explain something.
What about the real Facetime?
Videochatting via Discord isn’t really Facetime – as that is a standard that was made by Apple, not Discord. However, Apple recently decided to open up Facetime via the web, so that more users (and people on a computer or on an Android smartphone, for example) can also Facetime along. You can not do this via Discord, but you could share an active Facetime link via a Discord text message to get the video call started via the “real” Facetime.
Summary
You can most definitely video call (or Facetime) on Discord, in fact, it’s one of the reasons why the app is so popular nowadays. Simply head over to an active voice channel (or slide into someone’s DM), initiate a voice call, and switch over to video with the dedicated button. Happy Discording!
