Turning off community chat can be done in a few simple steps. Community chat allows Reddit users to chat live with others in their communities. While this can facilitate interesting conversations, some users may wish to disable the feature for privacy or to reduce distractions. Fortunately, Reddit provides easy options to disable community chat.
Why Would You Want to Turn Off Community Chat?
There are a few key reasons why a Reddit user may want to turn off community chat:
- Avoid distractions – Community chat can provide constant notifications and disrupt your browsing experience. Turning it off allows you to focus.
- Increase privacy – With community chat enabled, others can see when you are actively online in communities. Disabling it provides more privacy.
- Reduce clutter – The chat panel on the side of communities can feel cluttered. Removing it streamlines the interface.
- Personal preference – Some users simply do not enjoy or want to participate in community chat.
If you relate to any of these reasons, disabling community chat can help provide a better Reddit experience.
How to Turn Off Community Chat in the Reddit App
If you primarily use Reddit on iOS or Android, turning off community chat is simple:
- Open the Reddit app and tap your profile icon in the top left corner
- Go to “Settings” in the menu
- Tap on “Notifications”
- Under “Chat notifications” toggle off “Online status”
This will prevent the green dot “online” indicator from showing up next to your username. It will also remove the live chat panel from communities.
Disabling Community Chat on Desktop
The process is very similar using the desktop version of Reddit:
- Click on your username in the top right corner
- Select “User Settings”
- Choose “Chat & Messaging” on the left side
- Uncheck the box next to “Show your online status”
After saving your preferences, other users will no longer see your online status. The community chat bar will also disappear.
Using Old Reddit to Turn Off Chat
For people who prefer the old Reddit interface, here is how to disable chat:
- Go to your User Settings
- Navigate to “Chat” under Privacy Options
- Uncheck “Let other users see my online status”
- Save your preferences at the bottom of the page
This will remove your online indicator and stop community chat from loading.
Additional Ways to Control Chat
Beyond just disabling your status and the chat panel, Reddit offers some additional community chat preferences:
- Online indicator visibility – Choose whether no one, only friends, or everyone sees when you’re browsing.
- Who can send you chats – Set this to trusted users only for more privacy.
- Disable chat invites – Block chat invites entirely in your settings.
- Leave active chats – If you don’t want to participate in a community chat, leave at any time.
Exploring these extra settings allows you to further control your ideal chat experience.
Can You Completely Delete Your Chat Account?
For the most privacy, you can fully delete your Reddit chat account. This will:
- Erase your chat history and data
- Prevent any chat functionality
- Remove you from all community chats
To do this on the app or desktop site:
- Go to your User Settings
- Select “Delete Reddit Chat Account”
- Confirm that you want to permanently delete your account
There is no way to reactivate chat after fully deleting your account. You would have to create a new Reddit account to use chat again.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you are still seeing community chat after trying to disable it, here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Double check that your settings are saved – Make sure to hit “Save options” on desktop or back out of the settings menu in the app.
- Log out and back in – Sometimes you need to fully logout and back into Reddit for setting changes to apply.
- Clear cache – Try clearing your browser cache and app data to force a refresh.
- Try different browsers/devices – Settings may sync incorrectly across browsers or the app. Try toggling chat off in multiple places.
- Contact Reddit support – If issues persist, you can contact Reddit’s customer support for additional help.
Conclusion
Disabling Reddit’s community chat feature is straightforward once you know where to look in the settings. The exact steps depend slightly on if you use mobile, desktop, or old Reddit. But the general process is to turn off your status indicator and disable the community chat panel. Additional controls can further limit chat. And for maximum privacy, you can even delete your chat account entirely. With these steps, you can easily turn off chat and tailor Reddit to your preferences.