Software development company Discord has completed the rollout of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for voice and video calls across its platform. 

The company said the feature now protects all voice and video communications except Stage Channels, and users do not need to enable any settings for the encryption to work.

With the update, Discord users can communicate privately without third parties — including Discord itself — being able to access or listen to their calls.

The company first announced that it was testing E2EE for voice and video in August 2023, describing the initial announcement as "short and deliberately understated," while framing it as a long-term build-out process.

In September 2024, Discord engineer Stephen Birarda introduced the DAVE protocol, which the company describes as "an open and audited end-to-end encryption protocol designed for audio and video.” The company said it then started shifting calls on desktop and mobile to the new system while working to keep call quality consistent at its scale.

Clément Brisset expanded DAVE in 2025 to cover the remaining platforms, including browsers and gaming consoles, and added support for bots, apps, and the Social SDK, "helping to close the gaps that had kept some calls from being fully encrypted," the company stated. 

Discord said the migration wrapped up at the start of March 2026, completing the move to default end-to-end encryption for calls outside stage channels. The company is now in the process of removing the client code that supports unencrypted fallback. After that is done, it "will not be possible to fall back to unencrypted connections," Discord noted.

The company added that they are continuing to invest in DAVE and the open protocol. While there are no current plans to extend the end-to-end encryption to text messages, the company plans to continue to strengthen its privacy protections for its clients.

"This work is ongoing, not a one-time project. I want to close by thanking the team that built this. DAVE was a multi-year effort that required patience, genuine craft, and a willingness to hold the bar, even when it would have been easier to ship something faster or cut scope. Stephen and Clément, the lead engineers behind this work, truly went above and beyond throughout.

What we ended up with is an open, externally validated protocol running across every platform Discord supports. I’m proud of what we’ve built — and of being able to bring real, verifiable, structural privacy protections to personal audio and video conversations for all of Discord’s users," Mark Smith, VP of Core Technology at Discord, wrote in the announcement.

The new end-to-end encryption service marks a major privacy win for Discord users. The move also comes as some tech companies scaled back similar protections — earlier this year, rival Meta ended end-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram, citing concerns that "extreme content" could spread online without law enforcement being able to intervene. Instagram can now access all content, including images, videos, and voice notes, as well as direct messages.

Many companies, however, use E2EE services by default, including WhatsApp, Apple's iMessage, Google Messages, Signal, and Facebook Messenger. Telegram also offers E2EE as an option, though it is not the default setting.

TikTok also reportedly noted that it has no plans to introduce E2EE technology for its direct messaging.

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