Discord encourages you to add a phone number to your profile, partly so that it can use two-factor authentication. But if you’ve tried adding your phone number to your account, only to be met with “an existing Discord account is already using this number”, you might feel like you’ve hit a brick wall. Especially if you’ve registered another Discord account a long time ago that you simply don’t have the login details for anymore. Here’s how to get round this problem.

Log in to Discord with your phone number

Many people don’t realise that you can log in to a Discord account with your phone number, as well as an email address. So if your phone number is attached to some long-forgotten account, you can log in to that old account and either remove the phone number from it or delete the defunct account altogether (which is the best option).

But what if you don’t know the password to that old account? Don’t worry.

Time needed: 5 minutes.

Remove your phone number from an old Discord account

Log in via a new browser
Open a web browser that isn’t already logged into your current Discord account, or alternatively put your current browser into Private Browsing mode, so that you don’t have to log out of your current account.
Visit the Discord website
Go to Discord.com and click the Login button at the top of the screen. Enter your phone number in the slot provided and then click the Forgot your password? link.
Pass through security
You’ll now have to jump through some security hoops. You’ll probably be asked to complete a couple of Captcha puzzles and then be sent a code to your phone, which you’ll need to reset your password. Follow all of the onscreen instructions until you’ve got a new password.
Log in to your old Discord account with your new password
With the password now reset, log in to Discord with your new credentials. Once in, click the user settings cog icon at the bottom of the screen. On the screen that appears, you now have two options. You can either remove the phone number associated with that old account. Or you can delete that old account entirely. If you’ve no use for the old account anymore, it’s good practice to simply delete it. Take your pick. If you choose to delete the account, you’ll get a message saying your account will be fully deleted within 14 days, but don’t worry – you can reuse the phone number associated with that old account immediately.
Log in to your main Discord account
Now go back to your main Discord account and once again click on the user settings cog. Under Phone number, click Add and follow the onscreen instructions. You should hopefully end up with your phone number now tied to the correct account, and after that you can set up two-factor authentication via SMS from the same user settings menu.