New World Notes

SL Mobile App Downloaded Over 20,000 Times In First 3 Weeks, Reaching Roughly 1 in 3 of Total Qualifying Users

That was fast.  Since launching on June 25, Second Life's mobile app for iOS and Android has been downloaded well over 20,000 times. That's a safe estimate, because Google Play now lists the Android version of the app as having over 10,000 downloads, and smartphone usage between iOS and Android typically skews 50/50, very roughly speaking. Based on previous reporting, I'd estimate iOS/Android ownership among SLers skews about 60/40, so estimating 20,000+ is on the conservative side.

Notably, that's double the Google Play downloads from only last week.

Also notable: Only Premium/Premium+ users can currently use the app, so quite a lot of them have installed the mobile app:

 

Second Life Mobile App Downloaded Over 10,000 Times in First 2 Weeks -- Probably Much More!

Since launching on June 25, Second Life's mobile app for iOS and Android has been downloaded over 10,000 times. We know this because Google Play lists the Android version of the app as having over 5,000 downloads, and smartphone usage between iOS and Android typically skews 50/50, very roughly speaking.

I'd actually estimate total downloads are significantly higher than 10,000 total, since Second Life users tend to be more affluent iPhone owners, and likely break down closer to 60% iOS, 40% Android. So I'd say the total total is closer to 15,000 at the moment. Google Play is also slow to update the download counter and displays it in tiers -- the next tier being "over 10,000".

Anyway, are those impressive download numbers? Let's dig deeper:

BREAKING: Second Life Mobile Goes Into Public Beta for All Premium Users -- iOS Version Blocks Adult Regions, Android Version Does Not

Just announced at Linden Lab's town hall meeting for the virtual world's 21st birthday:

Second Life for mobile is now officially in public beta, and is now available for all Premium and Premium+ subscribers.

Go to the official site's new mobile page to get it, or find direct app store links below.

Yes, at long last, Second Life's mobile era is officially here.

"Mobile is now entering public beta phase which means it's actually coming to iOS and Android now," Linden product head Grumpity Linden just confirmed after a long build-up. "It is available on the app store. Ready, set, go -- don't go all at once."

Another important point Grumpity made during the launch:

Giving the SL app poor app ratings on Apple's App Store or Google Play is not the best way to send feedback to Linden Lab, but it will hurt the app's launch on mobile.  "If you have give us horrible app ratings, it will make it very difficult to surface on the market." (That's due to the stores' discovery algorithms, which tend to bury badly-rated apps on listings.)

Another interesting point: While the iOS version blocks access to Adult regions due to Apple rules, the Android version does not:

Make Second Life's Android App Directly Downloadable, Readers Suggest

Interesting idea from readers, responding to the news that Linden Lab is restricting access to Second Life' many Adult-rated regions in the upcoming mobile viewer, mainly to satisfy Apple's App Store regulations against graphic sex/violence content: 

"How about making the app available on another site not so restrictive?" asks Kaylee West.

I had a somewhat skeptical reaction to that at first, seeing how large a userbase the App Store  has. But then reader "Phaethon" riffs on that idea with some specifics:

SL Mobile App Access to Adult-Rated Regions Inevitably Removed

As Second Life's iOS/Android app finally gets close to launch, here's a good catch from Reddit /SecondLife host "0xc0ffea". In a message to users of the closed Mobile Alpha group, a Linden Lab staffer inevitably announced the app won't be able to access Second Life's naughty sims:

We are planning the exciting transition of the Second Life mobile app from Private Alpha to Public Beta in the near future. Expanding the audience for the app means that we must comply with app store requirements, including limits on the types of content that can be displayed in apps.

In order to move forward, we will soon be removing access to Adult-rated regions on the mobile app. In the longer term, we are working on finer-grained controls for content maturity in order to allow maximum freedom while complying with app store requirements.

For now, you will see this message when attempting to visit an Adult region: "The location you selected exceeds the content maturity limit on this device. App stores restrict the type of content that can be displayed in apps."

I say "inevitable", because Apple is fairly restrictive about violent and sexual content in its App Store:

Linden Lab Expanding SL Mobile Testing to Its Estimated 68,000+ Premium Subscribers "Really Soon"

Update, 4/24: SL usage analyst Tyche just told me: "The last equivalent figure I have is from Jan 2021 where Premium mainland owners was 68,409." So I've updated the Premium estimate accordingly!

In case you missed it, Linden Lab unveiled the latest update to its Second Life on mobile project last week (watch above), which is coming along quite nicely. (Though avatars move around somewhat oddly and gravity-free, as if they're steadfastly moonwalking across the world.)  But for my money, the big reveal comes toward the end:

We're still accepting private alpha applications from our Premium Plus subscribers... we're looking forward to opening up the early tester program to Premium subscribers really soon.

Emphasis mine, because that will be a pretty large expansion of mobile. While Linden Lab hasn't posted how many Premium Plus subscribers they have, I'd estimate somewhere in the four figure range. So assume Premium Plus users no won mobile in the three-four figure range.

The Premium user base, by contrast, is much larger:

Second Life's Upcoming Mobile App Improves World Graphics and Now Includes Instant / Direct Messaging to Other In-World SLers!

Pic by TavishBrock on the SL iOS app -- click here to teleport to compare and contrast

Linden Lab continues rolling out closed Alpha invites of its upcoming iOS/Android app for Second Life to Premium+ subscribers (see "Mobile Update" here). And by the looks of it, continues improving the app itself. Here's a new update and screenies courtesy longtime SLer TavishBrock Resident of the Rosehaven Estates, who gave us an early hands-on preview last month.

"The newest version seems significantly better than the first alpha," Tavish tells me. "The visual artifacts for missing textures are gone so the world looks much more like it should. Now I feel like I can walk around and have some sense of where I actually am (but a mini-map would really help with that as well)."

User interface looks pretty clean and simple, at least on the top level:

"There's missing functionality," notes Tavish, "but it's still early days and I assume that more will be added as things progress. The virtual joystick works fairly well, but I wouldn't say no to keyboard controls (which I assume is way down on the list of things to add, and understandably so)."

I am hoping we get some kind of "wow" UI interactions that make the user experience more magically intuitive than the desktop version, but still waiting on signs of that.

However, there's one big feature to mobile that's live: You can message other online Second Life users through the mobile app! Yes:

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-On Look at Second Life's Mobile App in Private Alpha!

Now that the first wave of Premium+ subscribers are getting to try out the private Alpha version of the upcoming Second Life iOS/Android app (and didn't have to sign an NDA to do so), I'm excited to share one of the first-ever published hands-on looks, courtesy longtime SLer TavishBrock Resident, who helps manage the Rosehaven Estates. 

First off, here's what the iOS app looks like on TavishBrock's iPad (right). Some more screenshots below, taken directly from the iOS device. And before reading and looking further, bear in mind that this is the app while still in a private Alpha, so expect many fixes and additions in the final product expected next year.

Now to Tavish's full assessment of the current iOS build:

This is very early in the development process and anything that I write, especially any observations about where it's lacking should be read with that in mind. It's so unfinished that I literally have no complaints, only observations.

I'm running it on these devices:

• 2018 11" iPad Pro with keyboard
• iPhone 15 Pro
• M3 Max 14" MacBook Pro

First impressions: