Are there any privacy friendly Discord clients or frontends?
I have the impression it’s against their TOS to use an alternative client, so is it worth it to even use one?
You won’t get banned for using a 3rd-party client or client mod, unless you abuse the API in doing so (which you’re not likely to do accidentally).
Anyway, the short answer is: yes.
I think all of the major client mods on PC have anti-tracking plugins. I use Vencord which comes with a “NoTrack” plugin by default (it disables Discord telemetry, metrics, and crash reporting). It also has a “ClearURLs” plugin that removes tracking elements from URLs. BetterDiscord also has similar plugins.
You can couple these with OpenAsar (it’s compatible with all client mods - I use it alongside Vencord). Along with speeding up your Discord, it also comes with a “DoNotTrack” plugin that disables discord telemetry.
On Android, you can use Vendetta which, again, has a “NoTrack” Plugin you can add that disables discord telemetry and tracking.
You won’t get banned for using a 3rd-party client or client mod
That is not true. A few people have been banned because they used BetterDiscord. It’s rare but it happened before. That’s why I stopped using it.
This has only ever happened because of plugins that hammer the api
But still I wouldn’t risk it because it’s against the TOS. It can happen and nobody knows if they ever take stronger action.
I’ve used them since 2016. I really doubt anyone has gotten banned for anything other than using plugins that spam the API or access experimental features you’re not meant to have.
The risk is yours to take though so, fair enough.
I just use betterdiscord with the do not track extension
Same. I also use Invisible Typing.
What exactly would you gain privacy wise from a 3rd party client? All communication goes through their servers anyway. I believe even voice calls go through their server and aren’t p2p.
Telemetry and other user identification but yeah the data runs through the server.
Sidebar on my Browser and Aliucord I don’t use Discord frequently however and you need to be aware of what you type there
Worth noting that Aliucord relies on a very outdated version of Discord. Vendetta is worth using if you want the newer features to work well
