The Discord update adds activities, an app catalog, and a cheaper Nitro subscription.

Discord today announced a slew of updates to its online chatting software and service, including new ways to interact with third-party apps on the platform and a cheaper Nitro subscription tier.

The VoIP and Text Chat service is adding a new “App Directory”where server moderators can view apps and integrate them into their servers, all within the Discord app. Third party apps were already supported, but you had to find them online and install them. This new approach is more like an on-platform app store.

Longtime Discord users commonly refer to apps as bots; these are special features that you can activate with the “/”command, such as polls, moderation, meme creation, and more. Basically, Discord has made it easy to find and install these bots. The app catalog was announced today and launches on October 18th.

in the style of Teleparty/Netflix Party

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Discord was used as a place for friends and family to stay connected and share their lives with each other. It is also used as a gathering place for hobbyists in other areas, such as the sneaker collector community. And in some industries, it is even used as a place of professional communication. In all these cases, it is an alternative for these groups compared to Facebook, Twitter or other channel-based social networks.

Cheaper nitro

The latest major update Discord announced today concerns its Nitro premium subscription service. So far, the cheapest Nitro option has been $4.99 per month. The other, for $9.99, offered various perks such as greater upload size limits, the ability to use emoji from one channel on any other channel, customizable server profiles, HD video streaming, and a number of other things. However, this price was a little high for many users, especially since most people will never touch most of the perks on offer.

To solve this problem, Discord introduced Nitro Basic, which offers perhaps two of Nitro’s most compelling features – large downloads and server-independent emoji – for just $2.99. While the Nitro Classic subscription has increased the download limit from a measly 10MB to 100MB, Nitro Basic downloads a maximum of 50MB. Nitro Basic also includes server-independent stickers, a Nitro profile icon, and custom video backgrounds.

All of these updates tell the same story about the platform: it is trying to move beyond the notion that it is primarily a gaming VoIP platform. Most of the people who regularly use Discord already knew that it was moving in that direction, and the app development team is shifting their focus more and more to this broader concept.

Update: This article did not originally mention the $4.99 Nitro Classic subscription. We’ve updated it to properly note that the $9.99 option wasn’t the only one until today.

Image listing from Discord