How to Completely Uninstall Discord From a Computer and Phone

An ordinary uninstall through the programs list leaves behind folders of settings, cache and a startup entry. Those leftovers are why Discord "comes back" after a reinstall with your old profile still loaded, or refuses to install again with an update error. A full clean-up takes five minutes.

The short answer

Quit Discord properly — not with the close button, but from the tray icon or the task manager.
Uninstall the app the way your system normally removes programs.
Delete the leftover folders in your user data.
Check the startup list and remove the messenger's entry.

Your account stays either way: uninstalling the program and deleting the profile are different things, and the second is done separately in the account settings.

Windows

Click the arrow in the tray next to the clock, right-click the Discord icon and quit. If there's no icon, open Task Manager and end every process with that name.
Open Settings → Apps → the installed programs list, find Discord and uninstall it.
Press Win + R, type %AppData% and delete the discord folder — it holds settings and cache.
Do the same for %LocalAppData% and delete the Discord folder there — it holds the installer files and app versions.
Look at the Startup tab in Task Manager: if an entry remains, disable it.

Beta branches use different folder names: Discord PTB and Canary each have their own, with the matching suffix. If you installed more than one version, each has to be removed.

macOS

Quit the app from the menu bar or Activity Monitor.
Drag Discord from Applications to the Trash.
In Finder press Shift + Cmd + G and go to ~/Library/Application Support — delete the discord folder.
In ~/Library/Caches and ~/Library/Preferences, delete the files and folders with the same name.
Check Login Items in your user's system settings and remove the messenger from there.

The Library folder is hidden by default — going to the path through Finder is exactly what gets around that.

Linux

The app itself is removed the same way it was installed: through your package manager, through snap or flatpak, or by deleting the extracted folder if it came as an archive.

User data lives separately, in a hidden configuration folder in your home directory named after the app. Delete it by hand, or a fresh install will pick your old settings straight back up.

Phone

On Android the app is removed with a long press on its icon or through the apps section in settings. That same screen lets you clear cache and data before uninstalling — useful when you're not removing the messenger but troubleshooting it.

On iPhone, deleting the app the usual way is enough: the system removes its data along with it. No separate clean-up is needed the way it is on a computer.

How to confirm nothing is left

Processes. Open your task manager and check that no processes with the app's name remain, in either the apps or background sections.
Search your user folder. Search your home directory for the app's name — that turns up beta-branch folders and forgotten shortcuts.
Startup. The startup list should be clean, or the system will keep trying to launch a program that no longer exists.
The browser. If you ever used the web version, a saved password and an active session live there — log out and remove the password from your browser's manager.

Discord won't uninstall, or won't install again

The uninstaller won't start. Most likely the app is still running in the background. End all of its processes in the task manager and try again.
An error when installing a new version. The classic sign of leftovers in your user folders: delete them as described above and run the installer again.
The app hangs on an update. Deleting the local data folder usually fixes it — the app recreates it on the next launch.
The icon stays in the Start menu or the dock. That's a shortcut, not the program: remove it separately.
The old account is signed in after a reinstall. The session lives in the same user data. For a clean start, delete the folders, not just the app.

What remains after the app is gone

Your account. The profile, servers and messages are untouched — you simply stop signing in from this device.
Your messages. They belong to the channels and stay in place regardless.
"Log in with Discord" connections. Sign-ins on third-party sites and in games keep working as long as the account exists.
The web version. The app is gone, but the browser still gets you in — if the point was to stop using Discord, log out there too.

Should you delete the account as well

People uninstall for different reasons, and not all of them call for parting with the profile. If the noise from communities is the problem, leaving unused servers and muting notifications handles it; if you want a break, disabling the account temporarily is undone by simply logging back in.

Deleting the profile is a separate, irreversible procedure in the account settings, with conditions of its own — you can't delete an account while you still own servers, for instance. The sensible order is to settle the profile question first, if it arises at all, and only then clean up the computer.

There's also a third option: you still need Discord, just not under your personal profile — for moderation or project servers, say. Then your personal account stays untouched and the public-facing work runs on Discord accounts from Fire Accs, kept separate from your main one.

Common mistakes

Deleting folders without closing the app. The system won't remove files in use, and part of the data survives.
Cleaning the registry "just in case". A full uninstall doesn't need it, and the risk of breaking something else is real.
Installing third-party uninstallers. The built-in removal plus two folders is enough; dubious utilities create more problems than they solve.
Confusing uninstalling the app with deleting the account. The first is reversible any time; the second isn't.
Forgetting the second branch. If Canary or PTB were installed, their folders sit separately and stay behind.

FAQ

Do my messages disappear when I uninstall the app?

No. Conversations are stored on Discord's servers and remain available from any other device.

How much space does this free up?

It depends on how much the cache accumulated: for heavy users the data folders grow considerably larger than the program itself.

Should I log out before uninstalling?

Not required, but worth doing on a shared computer: it keeps an active session out of the user data.

What if I'm removing it from someone else's computer?

Log out in the app first, then uninstall and clear the folders — otherwise the next person could end up signed into your profile.

Will Discord stay in startup after removal?

A standard uninstall usually clears the entry, but the startup list is worth checking: a failed update sometimes leaves one behind.

Can I use Discord without installing it?

Yes, the web version runs in a browser and needs no app — handy if you only need it occasionally.

Does the in-game overlay disappear?

Yes. The overlay works through the app itself, so it goes along with its hotkeys and in-game notifications.

Do my settings come back if I reinstall?

Some settings live in the account and return when you sign in. Local ones like hotkeys and audio devices have to be set again if you deleted the data folders.

The takeaway

A complete removal is three steps: quit the app, uninstall it the standard way, and clear the user folders holding settings and cache. That last step is what fixes reinstall problems and reclaims the disk space. And the account lives separately from the program: for that to go too, you need its own procedure in the profile settings.