How to add roles to your Discord server on a computer or smartphone

Publish date: 2024-06-18
2021-09-03T16:08:59Z

Discord servers are nothing without the users that make them up. But if you're running a big server, you can't let every single member have the same permissions and powers.

That's what roles are for. You can assign roles to users in your server to control which channels they can chat in, how they appear in the members list, and more. This is also how you add moderators to your server.

You can add roles in Discord on your computer or phone. Here's how to do both.

How to add roles in Discord on Mac or PC

To add roles to a server, you need to either be the owner or have the "Manage Roles" permission given to you.

1. Open the server you want to add roles to and click its name in the top-left corner.

2. Click Server Settings. If this option doesn't show up, you don't have permission to edit the server.

Open your server's settings menu. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider

3. Select Roles in the left sidebar, and then click Create Role.

You can create new roles by clicking this button, or edit them from this menu. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider

4. You'll be brought to the Edit Role screen. This is split into three sections: Display, Permissions, and Manage Members.

Customize what users with this role will look like. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider
You can give the new role as many or as few permissions as you like. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider

Once you're ready, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Your role will be added to the list of server roles.

To give a server member a role, you can use the Manage Members menu, or right-click their name and hover over Roles.

How to add roles in Discord on iPhone or Android

The steps here differ a bit between iPhone and Android.

1. Open the Discord app and head to the server that you want to add roles to.

2. Tap the server's name at the top of the channel list, and select Settings. If you don't see this option, you don't have permission to edit the server.

Head to your server's settings page. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider

3. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page and select Roles, then tap the plus sign in the top-right (iPhone) or bottom-right (Android).

Now, depending on what kind of phone you have:

There are three pages you'll have to go through to add a role on your iPhone. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider
Android users can control all of a role's settings from one page. Discord; William Antonelli/Insider

To edit the role later, just come back to the Roles page and tap it.

And to assign roles to your members, go to the Settings page and tap Members, or tap and hold a member's profile icon and select Manage.

spanWilliam Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month./span spanOutside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation./span spanYou can find him on Twitter a href="https://twitter.com/DubsRewatcher"@DubsRewatcher/a, or reach him by email at a href="mailto:wantonelli@businessinsider.com"wantonelli@businessinsider.com/a./span William Antonelli Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation. You can find him on Twitter @DubsRewatcher, or reach him by email at wantonelli@businessinsider.com. Read more Read less

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