On Discord, all channels are open by default, this means anyone can join them and send messages. However, you may want to lock a channel on Discord. This is different than making a read-only channel because a Discord locked channel is only visible to server owners and admins. In today’s post, you will learn all the steps you need to take to lock a channel on Discord, both on mobile and desktop.
Lock a Channel on Mobile
1. Edit the channel
First, let’s see how to lock a channel on Discord’s mobile app. To begin with, locate the channel you want to lock and long-tap in it to reveal the options menu. From there, select ‘Edit Channel‘.
Now you are in the ‘Channel Settings’ screen. Here, tap on ‘Channel Permissions‘.
2. Lock the channel
The next step is to tap the toggle next to the ‘Private Channel‘ option and then confirm by pressing ‘Yes’ to make the channel private.
3. Add members or roles
By default, a private channel grants access to server owners and admins. However, if you want more people to have access to the locked channel, tap on ‘Add members or roles‘.
Then, simply find the members or roles you want to include in the locked channel and tap ‘Add’. For this example we are going to add the ‘mod’ role since the channel we have locked is called #moderator-only.
4. Check you have successfully locked the channel
If you complete the process successfully, now the channel you have locked will show a lock icon next to it.
Lock a Channel on Desktop
1. Edit the channel you want to lock
Now let’s see how to lock a channel on Discord desktop. The first step is to locate the channel you want to lock. Next, click on the gear icon next to the channel’s name. You can also right-click over the channel and select the ‘Edit Channel’ option, as shown below.
If you need to create the channel you want to lock, you can do so by right-clicking on the left sidebar and clicking on ‘Create Channel‘. Another option is to click on the plus icon that appears next to the channel categories’ names. Here’s a tutorial on how to move channels if you want a neat, organized server.
2. Lock the Discord channel
Once on the ‘Edit Channel’ menu, select ‘Permissions‘. From there, simply click the toggle next to the ‘Private Channel‘ option.
3. Add the people you want to have access to the channel
Now, you need to add the people you want to have access to the channel. From the same place, click on ‘Add members or roles‘ to select the individuals or roles you want to have access to the Discord locked channel.
By default, both server owners and admins will be allowed to access the private channel. We will also add moderators to this channel.
Once you are done granting permissions, click on ‘Done‘ and then on the green ‘Save Changes‘ button at the bottom right of the screen.
4. Check if the locked channel is working
To check if you successfully locked the channel, go to ‘Server Settings‘ by right-clicking on your server’s name at the top left corner of the screen. From there, select the ‘Roles‘ option from the dropdown menu.
Now, look for a role that doesn’t have access to the locked channel. For this example, we chose the role ‘member’. Next to the role’s name, click on the three dots icon and select ‘View Server as Role‘.
As you can see, members aren’t able to see the channel we locked earlier, which was #moderator-only and was located just above the forum channel.
Now that you learned how to lock a channel on Discord, check out this step-by-step guide on how to lock roles in your server.
