Third Party Viewer Directory
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Warning: The viewers listed here are not developed nor distributed by Linden Lab. Being listed here means only that the developers of the viewer have represented that they comply with the Policy on Third-Party Viewers and the Second Life Terms of Service. You are responsible for evaluating whether you want to use and share information with them. |
Using third party viewers
You may connect to Second Life using software released by a third-party developer. Linden Lab provides a Policy on Third-Party Viewers to promote a positive and predictable experience for all Second Life Residents. Beware of third-party viewers that are not in the Viewer Directory: they have either declined to self-certify their compliance with Linden Lab policies or been refused for noncompliance with the policies.
Viewer list
The viewers in this first section participate in reporting crash statistics to Linden Lab, and are ordered from best to worst crash rate (% of sessions that end in a crash). The rate used for each viewer is that of the highest version number for that viewer for which there are at least 200,000 minutes of use in the sample period (a one week sample from Monday to Sunday). The official Linden Lab viewers are shown where they would be in this ranking.
Crash rate may vary considerably depending on what platform (hardware and operating system) you are using, and on what you do in Second Life. You may find that your individual experience differs from this ordering.
| Viewer | Description | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Second Life Release 1.23 (would be here based on crash rate) | ||
 Phoenix
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Phoenix Viewer is a Third Party Viewer based from the LL Snowglobe 1.5 code base, created by The Phoenix Viewer Project Inc (non-profit) Devleopment Team. Large feature set and dedicated Support team available 24/7 to help our users with any issue. |   
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| Second Life Release 2.7.1 (would be here based on crash rate) | ||
 Firestorm
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The next generation viewer from The Phoenix Viewer Project, Firestorm is based on the V2 LGPL code with many interface changes and feature additions. This is a Beta version. |
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 Imprudence
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The goal of Imprudence is to improve the user interface and usability of the viewer through community involvement, thoughtful design, modern development methods, and a pro-change atmosphere. |
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| Second Life Beta 2.7.2 (would be here based on crash rate) | ||
 Singularity
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A viewer based on Ascent upgrading it under the hood for higher stability and performance, as well as compatibility with newer Second Life features such as Display Names. Also adds RLVa support. |
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 Emergence
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Emergence viewer is ran by a single developer and is part of an effort to provide users with a safe alternative viewer. Emergence is currently a near clone to Phoenix, as they share this goal, and it is advised to use it instead for higher support. |
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| Restrained Love | The RLV enhances your experience when you use it in conjunction with RLV-compatible objects, which are able to restrict the user from detaching items, receiving IMs, hearing chat, teleporting etc. This is listed here based on the stability of the 2.x version; a 1.x version is also available. The 1.x version would have been ranked fifth -- Oz |
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 Kirstens
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A hybrid viewer based on a mixture of snowstorm and other official sources aimed specifically at high end users, film makers and photography. |
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| Ascent | Ascent provides expanded control for content creators and developers and improves upon basics such as client detection, parcel management, and asset browsing. |
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- The following viewers are either based on code that does not include reporting of crashes or insufficient data is available to meet the ordering criteria described above. They are listed in alphabetical order by name.
| Viewer | Description | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
 Dolphin
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The Dolphin Viewer is a viewer for virtual worlds, based on the official Linden Lab source code, that contains many fixes and enhancements for builders, explorers, sailors, and other vehicle enthusiasts. |
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 Libretto
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A light weight, text only viewer for Second Life. It's designed to resemble and function as an instant messaging client, that can be used in an office environment, on low performance/bandwidth computers, or when multiple instances are needed. |
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 METAbolt
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METAbolt is a thin text client with rich features to enable users to perform most important functions in SL. |
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 Mobile Grid Client
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Second Life and Open Simulator messaging client for all Android powered devices. | 
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| omvviewer | Native Debian and Ubuntu .deb files of Snowglobe for 32 and 64 bit architectures. Changes to the source are the most minimal possible to use LSB file locations and to comply with TVP, no significant feature changes are included. |
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 Pocket Metaverse
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iPhone and iPad Client for Second Life® | 
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 Radegast
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Light-weight feature rich non-graphical client, ideal for situations where full 3D rendering client is less than ideal option, for instance, an office environment, running on low performance computers and similar. |
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| Sparkle IM | Log in to your Second Life® or Opensim account and begin chatting right from your iPhone or iPod Touch. |
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| Stored Inventory | a Backup tool that allows builders to save all their creations directly to their hard drive or move them to other grids. |
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For developers: how to apply to list a viewer in this directory
- Your Second Life accounts must be in good standing, must not be suspended, and must not have been permanently banned or terminated.
- You must have valid payment information on file with us or have been age verified by us.
- Review our Policy on Third-Party Viewers and the Second Life Terms of Service.
- Make sure you and your third-party viewer are in compliance with our policies.
- Open an Application Issue in the Third Party Viewer section of Jira and submit it.
Reporting policy violations
If you believe that you have direct evidence that any third party viewer (whether listed in the Third Party Viewer Directory or not) may be in violation of the Second Life Terms of Service or the Policy on Third Party Viewers, you can file a violation report to be investigated.