Third Party Viewer Directory

Using Third Party Viewers

You may connect to Second Life using software released by a third-party developer. We have a Policy on Third-Party Viewers to help promote a positive and predictable experience for all Second Life Residents. However, because third-party viewers are not our viewers, we cannot guarantee that they will follow our rules. You are responsible for evaluating whether you want to use and share information with them.

To be listed in this Third Party Viewer Directory, a software developer must self-certify that it complies with Linden Lab policies. Beware of third-party viewers that are not in the Viewer Directory – they have either declined to self-certify or been refused for noncompliance with our 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. The rate used for each viewer is that of the highest version number with at least 200,000 minutes of use in the sample period (generally, a one week sample from Sunday to Sunday). The official Linden Lab viewers are shown where they would be in this ranking.

Crash rate varies 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)
Second Life Release 2.4 (would be here based on crash rate)
Phoenix	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.
Imprudence	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.
Second Life Release 2.5 Beta 2 (would be here based on crash rate)
Emergence	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.
Kirstens	A hybrid viewer based on a mixture of snowstorm and other official sources aimed specifically at high end users, film makers and photography.
Ascent	Ascent provides expanded control for content creators and developers and improves upon basics such as client detection, parcel management, and asset browsing.
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. (note from Oz - this is listed last based on the stability of the 2.x version; a 1.x version is also available. The 1.x version would have been ranked first)

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	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.
Libretto	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.
METAbolt	METAbolt is a thin text client with rich features to enable users to perform most important functions in SL.
Mobile Grid Client	Second Life and Open Simulator messaging client for all Android powered devices.
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.
Pocket Metaverse	iPhone and iPad Client for Second Life®
Radegast	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.
Sparkle IM	Log in to your Second Life® or Opensim account and begin chatting right from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Stored Inventory	a Backup tool that allows builders to save all their creations directly to their hard drive or move them to other grids.

For Developers: How to apply to list a viewer in this directory

1. Your Second Life accounts must be in good standing, must not be suspended, and must not have been permanently banned or terminated.
2. You must have valid payment information on file with us or have been age verified by us.
3. Review our Policy on Third-Party Viewers and the Second Life Terms of Service.
4. Make sure you and your third-party viewer are in compliance with our policies.
5. Open an Application Issue in the Third Party Viewer section of Jira and submit it.

Policy Violation Reporting

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.