Discord Stuck Loading or on RTC Connecting? Fix It Step by Step
Discord stuck on loading or on “RTC Connecting” is an outage only if Discord’s own status page reports an incident. Otherwise the cause is usually on your side: a local network block, a VPN, an outdated client or a driver problem. Check the official status first, then test the web version, then try the fixes below.
Our live Discord status page shows current reports from our checks.
How do I check if Discord is down?
Discord publishes incidents on discordstatus.com. Read how the labels work in our guide to reading a status page. Pay attention to the component list: an incident on voice does not mean text chat is down.
- Open discordstatus.com and look for an active incident.
- Open our Discord status page for a second view.
- Try Discord in a web browser at discord.com/app. If the browser works and the desktop app does not, the desktop app is the problem.
- Try your phone on mobile data. If it works there, your home network is the likely cause.
What does “RTC Connecting” mean?
RTC Connecting is the status Discord shows while your voice or video connection is being set up. When it never finishes, the voice connection cannot be established. Discord’s support pages describe several causes. A Discord staff reply on its community says that repeated RTC Connecting is usually due to client-side issues, and suggests restarting the client. Discord’s own voice regions article says that if a channel is set to Automatic you can try disconnecting and reconnecting, and you can set a region override in the channel settings if you have permission.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Stuck on RTC Connecting for everyone in the channel | Voice region problem or incident | Check discordstatus.com; change the region override if you can. |
| Stuck only for you | Client, network, VPN or firewall | Restart Discord, disable VPN for a test, try another network. |
| Stuck on AMD hardware | Video codec or driver | Follow Discord’s AMD troubleshooting article. |
Discord has an official article for AMD CPUs and GPUs on RTC Connecting: AMD GPU/CPU RTC_CONNECTING Troubleshooting. It says that on rare occasions Discord can get stuck in RTC Connecting on AMD hardware, and suggests reinstalling Discord, updating the graphics driver and turning off the OpenH264 video codec in Voice and Video settings.
What should I do if Discord is stuck loading or messages won’t load?
Work from the simplest fix to the more disruptive one.
- Fully quit Discord, including the tray icon, and reopen it.
- Restart the device, then the router.
- Update Discord and your operating system.
- Turn off any VPN or proxy and test again. If it works, change the VPN server or exclude Discord.
- Try the web version. If it loads, sign out of the desktop app and sign back in.
- Reinstall Discord from discord.com or your official app store. Do not use a download from any other site.
If other sites also fail, the problem is bigger than Discord. Our works on mobile data but not Wi-Fi guide explains DNS, filter and router causes, and flushing the DNS cache is a safe test.
Is it safe to change Windows or router settings for Discord?
Changing a firewall rule so Discord can reach the internet is safe if you do it through your operating system’s own settings. Do not disable your antivirus or firewall permanently, and do not run “Discord fixer” programs from forums or videos. Scam links on Discord often pretend to be fixes or free upgrades. Never enter your password or a login code on a page you opened from a chat message.
Why does Discord work on the phone but not the PC?
That points to the PC app, a driver or a local network rule. Update the graphics driver, check that the PC clock is correct, and test with the browser version. If you use school or work Wi-Fi, the network may block Discord, and only the network administrator can change that.
What can I check on a phone?
On iPhone and Android the steps are shorter. Force close the Discord app, switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data, and update the app from the App Store or Google Play. If Discord loads on mobile data but not on Wi-Fi, the router or a network filter is the cause, and the checks in our mobile data versus Wi-Fi guide apply. If a restart does not help, sign out and back in, and as a last step delete and reinstall the app from your official store. You will need your password and any two-factor method ready before you do that, so make sure you can still reach them.
Voice problems on a phone also come from permissions. If you can join a channel but nobody hears you, check that Discord has microphone access in the phone’s settings. This is a separate issue from RTC Connecting, where the call never finishes connecting. A call that connects but stays silent is a device setting, not an outage.
Bottom line
Check discordstatus.com, test the browser version and another network, then work through restart, VPN off, update and reinstall. Use Discord’s AMD article if you have AMD hardware and RTC Connecting.
FAQ
Why is Discord stuck on RTC Connecting?
The voice connection cannot be set up. Causes include a voice region issue, a client or driver problem, or a VPN or firewall blocking the connection.
Is Discord down if messages are slow?
Not necessarily. Check discordstatus.com and our status page. If neither shows an incident, test your network.
Can I change the voice region?
Discord’s voice regions article says channel settings include a region override, if you have permission to edit the channel. Otherwise ask a server admin.
Will reinstalling Discord delete my servers?
No. Your servers and messages are stored on your account, not on the device.