Ever tried to report a scammer on Discord and realized their username just isn't enough? You go to the trust and safety form, and they ask for an 18-digit string of numbers. That's the Discord ID. It's the "Social Security Number" of the platform. While usernames change—especially with the new migration away from the old "Name#0000" system—the ID stays the same forever. Honestly, if you're trying to manage a server or just keep yourself safe, knowing how to get a discord user to id conversion done is pretty much essential. It’s not just for nerds or developers anymore. It's for anyone who doesn't want to get ghosted by a harasser who just changed their display name for the tenth time today.
Why Developer Mode is the Secret Sauce
You can’t just right-click someone and see their ID by default. Discord hides this stuff because most people don't need it. To start, you have to toggle Developer Mode. Go to your User Settings. Look for the "Advanced" tab way down at the bottom of the sidebar. There’s a toggle there. Flip it.
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Nothing looks different at first. But now, when you right-click a profile picture or a message, a new option magically appears: "Copy User ID." It’s that simple. Without this, you're basically flying blind. I've seen so many people try to use third-party websites first, which is kinda backwards. Why use a middleman when the data is right there in the client?
Once you have that ID, it's permanent. A user named "CoolGuy123" can change to "AnonymousHacker" and then to "Deleted User," but that ID—something like 123456789012345678—will never, ever change. It is tied to the account creation date. In fact, if you're curious, you can actually use that ID to figure out exactly when an account was made. It’s called a Snowflake ID. Discord uses a custom version of Twitter's Snowflake format. The first few bits of the ID are actually a timestamp.
The Snowflake Breakdown
Let's get technical for a second, but not too much. A Discord ID isn't just random noise. It's an unsigned 64-bit integer. It contains:
- A timestamp of when the account was created.
- The worker ID and process ID of the server that generated it.
- An incrementing number to keep it unique.
This is why "older" IDs are shorter or start with lower numbers. If you see someone with an ID starting with a 1 or a 2, they’ve been around since the early days of 2015 or 2016. Someone joining today will have a much higher number.
Moving from Discord User to ID via Mobile
Mobile is a bit of a pain. On iOS or Android, the path is slightly different. You still need to hit your profile icon in the bottom right. Then go to "Appearance" or "Advanced" depending on your version of the app. Look for Developer Mode. Once it's on, you have to tap a user's profile, hit the three dots (the meatball menu) in the top right, and "Copy User ID" will be at the bottom.
I’ve noticed that people often get confused because they try to copy the "Username" thinking it’s the ID. It’s not. If it has letters, it’s not the ID. The ID is strictly numeric.
Using External Tools and Bots
Sometimes you can't right-click the person. Maybe they left the server. Maybe they blocked you and disappeared. This is where you might need a bot or a lookup tool. Dyno, MEE6, and Carl-bot all have "whois" commands. If you type /whois @User, the bot will spit out the ID.
But what if they are gone gone?
If you have a message link or a log of a message they sent, you can sometimes extract the ID from the raw data. There are websites like DiscordID.net or various "lookup" portals. You paste the ID in, and it shows you the current username, their avatar, and their creation date. It's a great way to verify if an account is a "throwaway" or a "sock puppet" used for raiding. If the account was created ten minutes ago and they’re DMing you links to "free Nitro," you know it’s a bot.
Safety and Privacy Concerns
People get weirded out by IDs sometimes. "Can they hack me if they have my ID?" No. Absolutely not. Your ID is public information. Anyone in a shared server with you can see it. It’s like someone knowing your street address but not having a key to your house. They can see where you live on the map, but they can't get inside.
However, you should be careful with where you paste these IDs. Some shady "lookup" sites might log your own IP address or try to get you to authorize a malicious app. Stick to the well-known ones or just use the Discord client itself.
How to use the ID for Reporting
This is the big one. If you are filing a report with Discord's Trust & Safety team, they don't want a screenshot. Screenshots can be faked. They want the discord user to id mapping. They want the Message ID, the Channel ID, and the Server ID.
- Right-click the User -> Copy User ID.
- Right-click the Message -> Copy Message Link (the ID is inside the link).
- Right-click the Server Name -> Copy Server ID.
Without these three pieces of metadata, your report is basically going into the trash can. Discord's internal tools rely on these Snowflakes to pull the logs from their databases. If you just say "User 'BadGuy' was mean to me," they can't do anything because there might be ten thousand people named 'BadGuy' across the platform.
Real World Scenario: The Marketplace Scam
Imagine you're buying a digital item. The seller has a high-quality profile. You send the money, they block you. You try to find them again, but they've changed their name to "Support_User_01." If you didn't grab their ID before they blocked you, you're in trouble. But if you have the ID, you can track them across different servers. You can see their history. You can warn other server owners.
Summary of Actionable Steps
Don't wait until you're in a crisis to set this up. Do it now while you're thinking about it.
- Enable Developer Mode immediately. Go to User Settings > Advanced > Toggle "Developer Mode" to ON. This is the foundation for everything else.
- Practice grabbing your own ID. Right-click your name in the member list and select "Copy User ID." Paste it into a notepad just to see what it looks like.
- Keep a record. If you are dealing with a suspicious individual in a DM, copy their ID and save it somewhere. Even if they close the DM or delete their messages, that ID is your paper trail.
- Use Lookup Tools for Context. Use a tool like DiscordLookup to check the account age. If an ID translates to an account created yesterday, treat it with extreme caution.
- Report Correctly. When contacting Discord Support, always provide the numerical ID strings rather than just usernames or display names. It speeds up the process by days.
Knowing the difference between a display name, a username, and a unique ID is the literal difference between being a victim and being a savvy user. The platform is huge, and the ID system is the only thing keeping it organized. Use it.