# Aliucord: a rootless mod for the legacy Android Discord app > Aliucord patches the old views-based Discord Android client and layers a plugin and theme system on top of it. Here is what the repository documents, how installation through Aliucord Manager works, and where the approach runs into limits. **Aliucord/Aliucord** — A mod for the Discord Android App - Repository: https://github.com/Aliucord/Aliucord - Website: https://discord.gg/EsNDvBaHVU - Stars: 4,877 · Forks: 232 - Language: Kotlin - License: OSL-3.0 - Published: 2026-09-23 · Updated: 2026-09-23 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/aliucord-aliucord ## What Aliucord changes, and for whom Aliucord is a mod for the Legacy Android Discord app. The README is explicit that it builds on the old client that "utilizes real views rather than React Native," which is the technical reason the project can do what it does. A views-based client exposes an Android view hierarchy that a mod can hook and replace. A React Native client does not offer the same surface. The audience is narrow and specific. You need an Android device running Android 7 (SDK 24) through Android 16 (SDK 36), on arm64, armeabi-v7, x86_64 or x86, with a page size between 4KiB and 16KiB. You need to be willing to sideload an APK. And you need to accept the warning the README puts at the top of the installation section: this is a modification of a Discord app and is against Discord's TOS. The same paragraph notes there have been no cases of anyone being banned or restricted for using Aliucord with the official plugins, then says to use it at your own risk. That is the honest version of the claim, and it is worth reading twice. What you get in exchange: a plugin system the README describes as 280+ plugins, installable and removable without rebuilding or reinstalling Aliucord, with a built-in screen to toggle, configure or uninstall them. A theme catalog the README puts at 250+ unique themes. An in-app updater. And partial blocking of Discord's tracking, analytics and crashlytics, which the README qualifies as "most" because blocking all of it "isn't possible due to the way Discord functions." ## How the hooking and plugin layer actually fit together The repository layout tells you where the work happens. Aliucord/ holds the Kotlin mod itself. Injector/ is a separate module, installer/ holds the installation path, and patches/ sits alongside them. The credits name the machinery: LSPlant, described as a hook framework for Android Runtime (ART), and Pine, a dynamic Java method hook framework on ART. apktool, jadx and dex2jar appear as reverse-engineering tools used during development. So the data flow is: the stock Discord APK is decompiled and patched, the patch is applied at install time by Aliucord Manager, and at runtime LSPlant and Pine redirect the methods Aliucord wants to replace. Plugins are not compiled into the app. They are loaded from storage, which is why the README insists you grant storage permission and calls it "required to load & store plugins." That single permission is the load-bearing part of the whole plugin system. Revoke it and the plugin screen has nothing to read. Themes ride the same path. A theme is a resource the client reads at runtime, not a recompiled APK, which is why the README can promise 250+ of them without a build step per theme. The trade-off is that anything loaded from external storage is also something that can be broken by a bad file, which is why the troubleshooting section starts with force restarting the app and clearing its cache. ## Installing Aliucord on Android through Aliucord Manager Aliucord ships through a separate repository, Aliucord/Manager. The README points there for the latest release and tells you to pick an APK asset named like aliucord-manager-v*.*.*.apk. Download it, open it, and install it. If your browser cannot install APKs, enable "Install from unknown sources" in system settings first. Open Aliucord Manager. It will request storage and app installation permissions. The README also lists Shizuku, Dhizuku and Root as supported alternative installation methods if you would rather not grant the standard permissions. Then start the install: ```bash # Not a shell command. This is the sequence described in the README. # 1. Open Aliucord Manager # 2. Tap "New Install" (or "Update" if Aliucord is already installed) # 3. Optionally change icon, app name or package name # 4. Tap "Install" and wait ``` The README warns not to exit Manager while it runs. If the install fails, it names three causes: poor internet connection, internet censorship or blocks (use DNS over HTTPS and/or an unblocked VPN such as ProtonVPN), and insufficient free storage, with at least 500MB recommended. Support is in the #support channel of the project's Discord. When installation finishes, tap "Launch" or open the new Aliucord app directly. Grant the storage permission it asks for, sign in to Discord, and you are at the point where plugins become useful. One instruction is easy to skip and the README bolds it for a reason: do not uninstall Aliucord Manager, because it is used for some updates. ## Installing plugins and themes after setup Plugins come from the project's Discord server. The README says to join it and visit the #plugins-list channel, hold down a message for the plugin you want, and tap "Install XYZ" or "View XYZ's Plugins." Pick the plugin from the list and install it. Some plugins require a restart of Aliucord before they take effect, and the README says you may be prompted for that. PluginDownloader is preinstalled, so the manual step that older YouTube tutorials describe is no longer needed. That is worth knowing because the README calls out those tutorials directly. It also addresses the most common misconception about this project: if a video promised "free nitro," you were lied to. The README states the only aspect of Nitro that is replicable is sending emojis in messages, and that it does so as image links, not as actual emojis or reactions. Anyone installing Aliucord for Nitro features is installing the wrong thing. Themes follow the same install pattern from the same server. Once a plugin or theme is in place, the built-in screen is where you toggle it on and off, configure it, or uninstall it, without touching the APK. ## The TOS problem and the tracking claim Two limitations deserve separate treatment because they are the ones that decide adoption. First, the TOS. The README states plainly that Aliucord is a modification of a Discord app and is against Discord's TOS. It then says there have been no cases of anyone being banned, restricted or otherwise punished for using Aliucord with the official plugins. Those two sentences sit next to each other and they are not in tension: the project is telling you the rule and telling you the observed outcome, and leaving the risk with you. If your account matters to you, that is the whole calculation. The README does not document any appeal process, any account recovery path, or any way to run Aliucord against a secondary account. It is silent on all three. Second, the tracking block. The README says Aliucord blocks "most" of Discord's tracking, analytics and crashlytics, and gives the reason the rest stays: blocking all of it isn't possible due to the way Discord functions. That is a more useful statement than a blanket privacy claim, but it also means you should not install Aliucord expecting a clean network profile. Some telemetry still leaves the device by design. A third, quieter limit: this is Android only. The related searches include "aliucord ios," and nothing in the repository describes an iOS build. The supported platform list is Android versions and Android architectures. ## Where Aliucord is the wrong tool, and what to compare it against Aliucord is the wrong choice if you want a supported client. It patches a legacy version of Discord, and the whole design depends on that legacy client continuing to exist and continuing to work. If you are on a device outside Android 7 to 16, or on an architecture or page size outside the documented ranges, there is no supported path in the README. It is also the wrong choice if you want a client you can recommend to someone non-technical. The install flow involves sideloading, granting install-from-unknown-sources, granting storage permission, and keeping a second app (Aliucord Manager) around indefinitely. The troubleshooting section assumes you can force restart an app, clear its cache, check its permissions and reinstall it. The obvious alternative is a Discord client built on the official API rather than a patched APK. Those clients authenticate through Discord's own bot or client infrastructure, so they are not modifying the official app and the TOS question looks different. The cost is the plugin and theme ecosystem. Aliucord's 280+ plugins and 250+ themes exist because plugins hook methods inside the client itself, which an API-based client cannot do. If what you actually want is a custom Discord experience on Android with a large third-party extension catalog, Aliucord is the project that offers it. If what you want is a client that does not touch the official app, look at the API-based route instead and accept that the plugin catalog will be much smaller. ## Maintenance, licence and the cost of upgrading The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-17, six days before this writing. That is recent enough to describe the project as maintained on the strength of that push alone. The release cadence is a different story: the most recent tagged release is 1.2.0 from 2024-08-16, preceded by 1.1.4 in March 2024 and 1.1.3 in August 2023. So the code moves more often than the version number does. If you track releases rather than commits, expect long gaps between tags. Upgrade cost is low by design. There is an in-app updater for Aliucord and for plugins, and Aliucord Manager handles reinstalls. The README's troubleshooting path for a broken install is to reinstall through Manager, which means your plugins and themes are fetched again rather than preserved by the installer. Nothing in the README documents rollback to a previous Aliucord version, so if an update breaks a plugin you rely on, the documented recovery is reinstall, not downgrade. Licensing: the project is under OSL-3.0, and the LICENSE file sits at the repository root. The README lists LSPlant, Pine, apktool, jadx and dex2jar as credits. Those are separate projects with their own licences, and the README does not state how their terms interact with redistribution of a built Aliucord APK. If you plan to redistribute anything, read the LICENSE file and the upstream licences rather than assuming OSL-3.0 covers the whole artifact. That is a question for a lawyer, not for this article. ## Conclusion Adopt Aliucord if you are on Android 7 through 16, you accept that it modifies a Discord client against Discord's TOS, and you want plugins and themes without root. Do not adopt it if you need iOS support, if you expect Nitro features, or if you cannot tolerate a modded client that Discord could act against. Before installing, verify that Aliucord Manager is still on your device after setup, that the app has file access permission, and that you have at least 500MB of free storage for the download step. ## FAQ ### Is Aliucord against Discord's TOS? Yes. The README states directly that Aliucord is a modification of a Discord app and is against Discord's TOS. It adds that there have been no cases of anyone being banned, restricted or otherwise punished for using Aliucord with the official plugins, and says to use it at your own risk. ### What can Aliucord do? It adds a plugin system with 280+ plugins that can be toggled, configured or uninstalled without rebuilding the app, a catalog of 250+ themes, an in-app updater, and blocking of most of Discord's tracking, analytics and crashlytics. It is rootless and runs on Android 7 through Android 16. ### How do I install Aliucord on Android? Download the Aliucord Manager APK from the Manager repository, install it, grant storage and app installation permissions, then tap New Install and wait without exiting Manager. After it finishes, launch Aliucord, grant its storage permission, and sign in to Discord. Do not uninstall Aliucord Manager afterwards. ### How do I install plugins on Aliucord Discord? Join the project's Discord server, go to the #plugins-list channel, hold down the message for the plugin you want and tap Install XYZ or View XYZ's Plugins, then install it from the list. Some plugins require restarting Aliucord. PluginDownloader is already preinstalled, so you do not need to add it manually. ### Is Aliucord safe? The README does not make a safety guarantee. It says Aliucord is a modification of a Discord app that is against Discord's TOS, notes there have been no cases of anyone being banned or restricted for using it with the official plugins, and tells you to use it at your own risk. ### What is Aliucord? Aliucord is a rootless mod for the Legacy Android Discord app, which uses real views rather than React Native. It adds a plugin system, a theme catalog, an in-app updater and blocking of most of Discord's tracking and analytics. ## Sources - [Aliucord/Aliucord on GitHub](https://github.com/Aliucord/Aliucord) - [License: OSL-3.0](https://github.com/Aliucord/Aliucord/blob/main/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://discord.gg/EsNDvBaHVU) - [README](https://github.com/Aliucord/Aliucord/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/Aliucord/Aliucord/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/aliucord-aliucord