SL Mobile Initial Release Late 2023

Linden Lab has confirmed that SL Mobile is being developed and that the initial release is planned for late 2023 with limited functionality to start of with with more functionality being added after.

Apparently the core development of this product started in October 2022 built upon Unity. SL Mobile will be compatible with iOS and Android devices. The lab have been working on the graphics, avatar rendering, rendering edges and more.

Second Life Mobile – First Look Preview

Sounds very exciting and I would love to try out SL Mobile when it’s in beta later this year. Hopefully the lab will update the Second Life community on a regular basis on the progress.

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Linden Lab Pauses Development On Second Life Mobile App

On Thursday 21st October New World Notes reported that Second Life official mobile viewer development has been paused according to a “veteran Second Life insider”. The member is apparently from the SL Mobile Viewer test group and shared this news below.

From looking at this generally it does appear to be written from Linden Lab and many will be most likely be disappointed by this development pause. It does appear the team is actively working on a new direction from here. I would imagine we will hear from the lab shortly about this latest development and hopefully what they plan on doing next.

From source insider…

After reviewing the current state of the SL Mobile Viewer and the helpful feedback from residents, we have decided to pause development on this branch. The team is actively working on a new direction to take from here. We should have some news on that soon.

We’d like to thank you all for your time and feedback. It was very valuable to us! We will be closing TestFlight and the mobile regions on October 29th, 2021. Again, thank you for participation! Linden Lab

At the bottom of the message sent to NWN the lab are closing down TestFlight and the mobile regions on Friday 29th October 2021. The source said that development has been “stagnant for months” and says the following…

“Didn’t have push notifications, and until a recent update would only work when you had the app open on your screen,“

“You logged into a special mobile users only region and would remain there while the app was running, you couldn’t be teleported, seen on the map, had no attachments etc. IM messages worked well .. and that was all we ever got.“

I think Lumiya and SpeedLight Viewer is the benchmark for any Second Life mobile app they have to aim for. I accept development takes time and issues can happen along the way.

I would imagine any launch now of any SL Mobile app won’t happen until later in 2022 or 2023 at the earliest. At the monthly web user office hours in recent months there has not been any major announcements or really much to be excited about it seems.

There is a thread about this on the Second Life Forums for the latest discussions.

More updates soon.

2021 Mobile Apps For Second Life

There are mobile apps on iOS and Android that can be downloaded to access Second Life during 2021. As many know already Linden Lab are working to launch a Second Life mobile client on iOS very soon followed by a Android release later on.

Touch Life, Sparkle IM, LittleSight and AjaxLife have gone offline now. SLGo closed down at the end of April 2015 after OnLive was acquired by Sony. Lumiya no longer releases updates and the website is no longer being maintained.

Below are iOS apps and Android apps to access Second Life/OpenSim as of 27th April 2021.

iOS

SpeedLight

• SpeedLight is a mobile viewer for Second Life featuring teleport access, IMs, group search, world view rendering, group management, L$ transactions history and more
• Price: $23.99
• Size: 71.4 MB
• iPhone requires iOS 10.0 or later
• Latest Version: 12.102.0758 – 13th April 2021
• Download

MetaChat

• MetaChat is a text-only viewer for Second Life/OpenSim
• Price: $2.99
• Size: 54MB
• iPhone requires iOS 13.0 or later
• Latest Version: 1.2.9131 – 1st April 2021
• Download

Android

SpeedLight Viewer

• SpeedLight is a mobile viewer for Second Life featuring teleport access, IMs, group search, world view rendering, group management, L$ transactions history and more
• Price: Free
• Size: 3.9MB
• Requires 7.1 and up
• Current Version: 12.097.0719 – 7th April 2021
• 10, 000+ downloads / 158 reviews via Google Play
• Download

Mobile Grid Client

• Mobile Grid Client is a messaging client/viewer with local chat, group chat, IM, search, mini-map, the ability to teleport, inventory support and more
• Price: First 28 days of usage are free (pay monthly starting at L$250 for usage)
• Size: 1.9MB
• Requires 4.0 and up
• Current Version: 1.29.1280 – 23rd September 2020
• 100, 000+ downloads / 3, 331 reviews via Google Play
• Download

SL Friends

• SL Friends is a tool application to get notifications about Second Life friends
• Price: £1
• Size: 4.8MB
• Requires 5.0 and up
• Current Version: 1.09 – 28th July 2019
• 500+ downloads / 30 reviews via Google Play
• Download

Caution! Lumiya version 3.2 can still be downloaded via SlideMe but it’s $2.95. This app was last updated on 27th November 2016. Lumiya is a Second Life and OpenSim client offering a 3D world view, the ablitiy to send/receive messages, teleporting, local chat, manage inventory and more. Lumiya supports server-side appearance, mesh content and it’s compatible with RLV.

Please spread the word and in about a year or two I will post up another mobile apps update blog post.

Second Life Mobile Development – April 2021 Update

In recent months Linden Lab have been pretty quiet on the Second Life mobile development for anything to do with the iOS and Android versions of it. There are Second Life web user group meetings which are normally held on the first Wednesday of the month from 2pm SLT to 3pm SLT located at Denby.

The Web User Group meeting is a public monthly meeting used for discussion of issues around the Marketplace, Profiles, Place Pages, Search and Mobile related updates.

Upcoming Web User Group Meetings

• Wednesday, May 5th, 2021
• Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021
• Wednesday, July 7th, 2021
• Wednesday, August 4th, 2021
• Wednesday, September 1st, 2021
• Wednesday, October 6th, 2021
• Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021
• Wednesday, December 1st, 2021

Linden Lab are focused on the non-graphical aspects for a Second Life mobile viewer like IM, group chat, friendship management and more. I believe there is still NDA for those that are working/testing the iOS and Android versions at the moment.

Keira Linden has mentioned in the Second Life Forums mobile section last year that once there is a beta version of it available then it will be open to everyone to try it out. It’s expected the lab will make an announcement in the weeks/months ahead hopefully. There is potential here for the lab to make this a huge success and another way of bringing in revenue maybe.

Back on Monday 22nd June 2020 Ebbe Altberg CEO of Linden Lab talked about future plans for the Second Life Mobile Companion app for iOS and Android devices. Almost a year later development is slowly getting there.

The iOS version of the Second Life mobile client has been rejected by Apple a few times or so now over the past six months. Apple seems to be making life hard for Linden Lab in terms of passing the app through its evaluation process.

Second Life Mobile News – April 2021 Update

iOS Version

• The app is now very close to being ready to go (internal tests are being carried out)
• Waiting for Apple to pass the app via their evaluation process
• Launch could happen before the end of the summer 2021 (my prediction)

Android

• Development is way behind that of the iOS version
• Internal testing is still on-going
• Launch could happen later this year/early 2022 (my prediction)

Hopefully it won’t be too much longer until the lab announces more about Second Life mobile launch in the weeks or months ahead.

Lumiya Viewer Website Banner Remains

Official Lumiya Website – 22nd January 2021

The Lumiya Viewer website has had its main website content removed for some reason. The Lumiya banner is the only thing left remaining on the main homepage.

For many years the Lumiya Viewer website has not been updated by the creator. I have not visited the website since last year when everything was on there. Today I was surprised to see everything removed.

I am wondering if the creator is going to come back soon with a new revamped website along with a brand new app update. I think many would love to see that happen. There is a chance that the Lumiya Viewer website could be deleted in the months or years ahead.

Linden Lab is still working on a Second Life companion app for iOS and Android devices which will become available in beta at some point during 2021.

If anything changes this year I’ll post another blog post about Lumiya.

Second Life Mobile Beta Signups Coming Soon

New Mobile section goes live

This week on the Second Life Forums a new forum sub section was set up called Mobile which will be used for “discussion about mobile initiatives for Second Life“. Linden Lab are planning to launch an IOS and Android version of a brand new Second Life Mobile app sometime within the next three months. 

Today Keira Linden has made several new comments which are worth reading I think if you are excited about trying out the Second Life Mobile app in the future. Firstly the lab are still focused on the social parts of the app like IM functions and groups. 

It looks like the iOS version will be first in line with a beta version of it. The lab will make an announcement on how to sign up very soon. The Android app version is going to be a little delayed because of the backend work left to do. 

Keira Linden writes…

Right now, we’re really focused on the social aspects like chat (both IM and group) and getting those right.  So, keep checking in here and when I have more info on that portion of it I’ll announce it here first!

A little gossip I suppose…

I’ve got a little gossip, but not sure how juicy it is.    Android app is in the works!  We went with iOS first because we have more Residents on iOS devices, not because we don’t love our Android Resis too!  Release for an Android app is going to be a little delayed after iOS because we still have some backend work to do and (in case you hadn’t heard) we are frantically working on this eency little project called UPLIFT.    But, we’re still working on what we can along side iOS.  Once we have a beta version of it that we can open up for you all to bang on, I’ll drop an announcement in here so you all can sign up. 

I think the lab made a good move in creating this new sub section this week focusing on the Mobile side of Second Life. I will be following this very closely because I am looking forward to using the Android version mainly when that gets released. I will blog more when new updates becomes available. 

Second Life Mobile Companion App – August 2020 Update

As many know already Linden Lab is currently working on a brand new Second Life mobile companion app for iOS and for Android users. These are the latest updates relating to the new Second Life mobile app from this week’s web user group meeting from Wednesday 5th August 2020.

Android

• Work for the Android version of the Second Life mobile app is still behind the iOS version at this time but the good news is that it’s still under active development.
• It’s got some time before it reaches the Alpha / Beta test process stages.

iOS

• The iOS version has been in closed alpha for roughly two months or so now
• The lab has a build that is expected to be submitted to Apple sometime during August 2020. It’s got to be reviewed first and then approved before it appears on the Apple App Store
• The development team and the QA team are working hard right now

What to expect when the Second Life mobile app launches ?

It’s worth pointing out when the Second Life app launches before 2021 it will be more of a communicator app than a full blown client. It’s going to be used for basic contact for now like for IM and group chat.

There will be no 3D world view and apparently there are three mobile regions that have been set up so far. Over time more features, mobile regions and more capabilities will be added for the iOS and Android versions.

The lab will probably do a big announcement when the iOS version is approved on the Apple App Store very soon. The Android version announcement will follow later most likely in 2020. Most likely sometime in the Autumn if all goes to plan is what I am thinking for timings.

The lab are making good progress so far. The overall development for both iOS and Android versions seems to be going alright so far. I am most looking forward to trying out the Android version when that launches.

I will post more on my blog when more information becomes available.

Second Life Mobile Companion App – June 2020 Update

On Monday 22nd June 2020 Ebbe Altberg CEO of Linden Lab talked about future plans for the Second Life Mobile Companion app for iOS and Android devices. The lab are currently focused on the communications side of the app (IMs, Abuse Reporting support & Friends list) and the world view etc. The lab are trying to figure out the right time to enable the 3D viewer aspect of it into mobile.

The lab have made incremental improvements to the viewer UI like streaming into SL through the Chrome Embedded Framework. There is still more work still to be completed.

Ebbe hopes to see a beta version of the new Second Life Mobile Companion app released pretty soon. The best estimates for this is before the end of 2020 around time when the Uplift project should be finished. In general terms this means moving all of SL to the Amazon Web Services cloud. Then the focus will go on a cloud streaming option for the Second Life Mobile Companion app.

Personally I would love to test the Android version of it but if not i’ll wait until the public release happens. I really hope this new app will be successful in the long term and for the lab continue to develop it for years to come.

I will post more updates on my blog when more details become public.