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What Does the Moon Mean on Discord and How to Use It in 2022?

Written by, Mihajlo Trajcheski

Updated October, 18, 2022

If you are wondering what does the moon mean on Discord after joining the world’s most popular social platform, note that it indicates idle status.

But there’s more to it, and in the following sections, we go over the various Discord statuses you can use, how to do it, and what they all mean.

Let’s get to it!

What Does the Moon Mean on Discord?

Similar to other social media like Whatsapp, Discord implements a status system that indicates whether or not you are currently actively using the program and whether or not you can chat.

However, while most icons are more or less similar to those of other platforms, the idle status on Discord is conveyed with an unconventional yellow crescent moon next to profile pictures.

Note that you automatically go to idle on Discord in about five minutes of inactivity, but that doesn’t mean that you are offline, and you will continue receiving notification alerts.

When you open and start using the platform again, your status will change back to ‘Online’ as long as you haven’t clicked the moon icon on Discord manually.

How to Manually Set Up Your Status on Discord?

If you would like to limit your social interaction with other users, you can also open Discord and set the moon symbol yourself for an indefinite time period in a few simple steps.

Via Desktop

Via Mobile

To use the moon on Discord via your phone, you will have to complete a couple of extra steps:

  1. Open the app and click on the three bars in the top left-hand corner;
  2. Tap your profile image in the bottom right-hand corner;
  3. Select ‘Set Status’ and tap on ‘Idle’.

Other Statuses on Discord

Besides learning what does idle mean on Discord and how to activate it, you should also be familiar with the other types of Discord statuses and their meanings:

  • Online (green)—you are active in the app and available for communication;
  • Do Not Disturb (red)—while you are present, you are also busy;
    • Your notification alerts will be suspended as well.
  • Offline/Invisible (grey)—you are either offline or you have chosen to appear that way;
  • Streaming (purple)—you are streaming your gameplay or a video.

Note: Discord also adds a small mobile icon next to users’ names when using the mobile app to indicate they are away from their computers and unavailable for gaming.

Setting a Custom Status

With a recent update, Discord implemented a custom status feature—which combines the standard icons with an emoji and a brief description—and you can set it up quickly:

  1. Access the dropdown status list (as explained above);
  2. Click on ‘Set a custom status’ (greyed out smiley);
  3. Select an emoji and/or write a brief status description;
  4. Choose when to have it cleared (soon, within a day, or never);
  5. Pick one of the standard status icons and click save.

Note: You can also display your Spotify activity as a status message if you have connected your Spotify account with Discord.

Bottom Line

So what does the moon mean on Discord? Basically, it is an idle status icon that informs your friends or other Discord users that you have the app opened but are not using it. 

Therefore, if you want to take a real break from Discord, set your status to ‘DND’ or ‘Invisible’ to receive fewer messages, and other users don’t think you are ignoring them.

As someone who grew up gaming and always had a love for random facts, being able to write about gaming and technology for a living has been an absolute treat. Whenever I’m not researching my next topic for Don’t Disappoint Me, I am deflecting the attacks of Bosses in Sekiro, investigating a murder in Disco Elysium, helping Zagreus escape the underworld in Hades, or flanking enemies in Call of Duty with my squad. Having studied English language and literature has helped me merge these two worlds of random facts and gaming into a fulfilling career.