Some Discord users getting stuck on blank screen on browsers and desktop app

It seems a familiar frustration is bubbling up again for some Discord users. Reports have been surfacing across platforms like Reddit, with users detailing an annoying issue where Discord fails to load properly in their web browsers and in some cases, the app too, leaving them staring at a blank or white screen. This problem prevents them from accessing their servers, chats, and communities.

For many affected individuals, the usual quick fixes haven’t brought any relief. Users have described trying standard troubleshooting steps such as refreshing the page with CTRL-R, clearing their browser’s cache and cookies, and even restarting their entire computers, all to no avail. The blank screen stubbornly persists. As user atiktokgay posted on Reddit, “On the website, everytime I try to open Discord, I’m only met with a white screen? Is it something on my end, or is this a glitch other people are experiencing?”

The exact nature of the blank screen seems to vary slightly. Some report a completely blank, dark screen if they use Discord’s dark mode, while others with light mode enabled see a stark white screen. Interestingly, most reports are from those using the web version of Discord, but there are reports from some with the desktop app. Some experiencing the problem on their main browser found that trying a different browser, or using their current browser’s private or incognito mode, sometimes offered a temporary workaround.

For instance, user bedrill64 mentioned, “Same issue for me, doesn’t work in opera browser, works on opera private mode suprisingly, and works in edge and chrome.” Another user suggested that the issue might be more prevalent in Chromium-based browsers, with Firefox and Firefox-based browsers being less affected.

One potential solution that helped at least one user, Ok_Wait_8055, was “turning off Hardware Acceleration under Advanced” in Discord’s settings. However, another user quickly pointed out the flaw in this advice if Discord isn’t loading in the first place to allow access to those settings.

This isn’t the first time Discord users have faced screen-related bugs. Last year, many encountered a persistent gray screen issue, particularly within the Discord desktop application. However, we did manage to find some potential workarounds as well.

For now, affected users are left to experiment with different browsers, await a potential fix from Discord, or hope the issue resolves itself.