Category: News-Opinion

2025 SL viewer release summaries week #43

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, October 26th, 2025

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy.
  • This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.07 7.2.2.18475198968 – Apple Silicon Support – dated October 16 –  No Change.
    • This viewer now ships as a “Universal Binary” that contains both the Intel and Apple Silicon versions of the viewer. It should give performance gains on the Apple Silicon version in particular.
    • Also includes various WebRTC improvements and bug and crash fixes.
    • Known issues:
      • This version does not support convex decomposition for physics meshes with Apple Silicon. This will be hopefully be corrected in a future update or release, possibly with the help of a code contribution.
      • Navigation buttons in the in-viewer browser are no longer present for marketplace and search – these will be restored in a future update.
      • Apple Silicon does not support pathfinding tools.
      • Subtle rendering differences might be noticed on certain configurations and EEP environments.
    • Github Changelog.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 –  No Change.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Megapahit viewer version – 7.2.2.54709 – October 23 – changelog.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Radegast client version 2.49.488, October 25 – release notes.
  • SL Mobile (Beta) version 2025.1065 (A) / 0.1.1065 (iOS) – October 20.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2025 SL viewer release summaries week #40

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, October 6th, 2025

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy.
  • This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • SL Mobile (Beta) version 2025.10.563 (A) / 0.1.560 (iOS) – October 3.
    • Unity Engine upgraded to Unity 6.
    • Networking upgrade – replacement and upgrading of internal networking libraries; more robust handling of transitions between cell and wifi connections.
    • Scenes should load significantly faster and more reliably, with better handling of large crowds of avatars.
    • Improved handling for Bakes on Mesh materials.
    • Better support for EEP/Windlight shaders, including a direct port of the windlight sky shaders; improves general object lighting.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2025 SL viewer release summaries week #39

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, September 28th, 2025

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy.
  • This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.06 7.2.1.17108480561 – August 29 – No change.
  • Second Life Beta viewer 2025.07 7.2.2.17774206511 – Apple Silicon Support – September 26 –  NEW.
    • This viewer now ships as a “Universal Binary” that contains both the Intel and Apple Silicon versions of the viewer. It should give performance gains on the Apple Silicon version in particular.
    • Also includes various WebRTC improvements and bug and crash fixes.
    • Known issues:
      • This version does not support convex decomposition for physics meshes with Apple Silicon. This will be hopefully be corrected in a future update or release, possibly with the help of a code contribution.
      • Navigation buttons in the in-viewer browser are no longer present for marketplace and search – these will be restored in a future update.
      • Apple Silicon does not support pathfinding tools.
      • Subtle rendering differences might be noticed on certain configurations and EEP environments.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 –  No Change.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Black Dragon for Windows –  5.4.4 September 25 – release notes.

V1-style

  • No updates.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Coming Soon: new option to reduce the cost of SL Premium Plus subscriptions

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Thursday, September 25th, 2025, Linden Lab hosted a further Zoom call with creators and bloggers to discuss a number of announcements and initiatives, one of which was a new Premium Plus subscription option. I’ll be summarising other aspects of the meeting in due course. This article focuses on the new subscription option –  what it is, why it is being done, and when it can be expected.

What is It?

  • While Premium Plus has been been well-received, the cost of US $249 (annual billing plan) has been seen by many as being too expensive to justify.
  • To help overcome this, from October 2025, Linden Lab will be offering a “Premium Plus, No Stipend” option.
  • This subscription level will offer exactly what it suggests:
    • All of the “physical” benefits of Premium Plus (2048 sq metre Linden Home options etc.).
    • HOWEVER users signing-up to it will not receive either the one-off sign-up bonus (L$ 3,000) or the weekend stipend (L$650).
  • The new offering will retain the “Premium Plus” name for simplicity, and presented as an option within the Premium Plus subscription level.
  • By removing the sign-up bonus and stipend the new offering, when available, will cost US $11.99 per month / US $143.88 per annum (plus applicable local taxes) – a saving of US $105.12 on the annual cost of Premium Plus with stipend.
The upcoming new “Premium Plus, No Stipend” subscription option. Credit: Linden Lab
  • In addition, subscribers will be able to move between the subscription levels with immediate effect (e.g. Premium subscribers will be able to upgrade to “Premium Plus, No Stipend” without delay, and if they don’t like it, downgrade back to Premium or upgrade to “full” Premium Plus, and if a Premium Plus user opts to do without the stipend, they can switch over to “Premium Plus, No Stipend”).

Why is it Being Added?

  • As noted, it is primarily aimed at making Premium Plus more attractive to users who feel the current offering, even with the sign-up bonus and stipend, is still too expensive to justify.
  • The decision to remove the sign-up payment and stipend was made on two counts:
    • Those on both Premium and Premium Plus continue to purchase Linden Dollars regardless of their stipend.
    • Stipend payments further add to the supply of L$ in circulation, contributing to the on-going issues of a top-heavy supply of Linden Dollars impacting exchange rates, as has been previously discussed – see: Linden Dollar Exchange Rate and the Economy.
  • It is recognised the removal of the stipend will not appeal to everyone, hence why the current Premium Plus option will be remaining.
  • It is particularly hoped that the new option will encourage Premium subscribers who have previously expressed reluctance in upgrading to Premium Plus due to the cost to now consider doing so.
In a perfect world every premium subscriber would move to Premium Plus, No Stipend. Best for residents, best for creators. If that takes off, this is really good for residents and really good for creators, if people upgrade. If people downgrade, it is what it is; hopefully they don’t, but if they do, they do. But upgrading, that’s a win for the creators like no other, and its a win for the residents; we’re really giving a lot more for very little.

– Brad Oberwager, during the Zoom Call, September 25th, 2025

When Will it Launch?

  • If all goes according to plan, “Premium Plus, no Stipend” will launch in the first half of October 2025.
  • Formal announcements of its availability will be made when officially launched.

 

 

 

2025 SL viewer release summaries week #36

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, September 7th, 2025

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy.
  • This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.06 7.2.1.17108480561 – August 29 – NEW.
    • Inventory Favourites System, plus assorted new features.
    • Improvements to avatar system; camera and movement; chat; voice; content creation tools.
    • Mesh uploader updates.
    • Text & UI polish.
    • Fixes for Environment and Rendering; stability and crashes; UI.
    • System improvements.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 –  No Change.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Kokua: 7.2.1.57692 (no RLV) and 7.2.1.61405 (RLV variants)  (2025.06), September 6 – release notes.
  • Megaphit Release – 7.2.1.54496 – August 28 – changelog.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable: 1.32.4.4, September 6 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Linden Lab offers comment on acquisition of Blush AI

Posted on by Inara Pey
Via the Blush AI website

Towards the end of August 2025, I was contacted to ask if I knew anything about a recent acquisition by Linden Lab – that of Blush AI, a dating simulator  available for both Android and iOS that (quote) “helps you learn and practice relationship skills in a safe and fun environment”.

Blush AI was originally developed by Luka Inc., the company behind Replika, an emotional artificial intelligence (AI) companion chatbot first released in 2017, and which has proven highly popular with a claim of over 30 million users – although it has not been without its share of concerns around user data protection.

At the time I was contacted, the acquisition of Blush AI from Luka Inc., was causing some concern within the forums and on social media, with some of the concerns being around the possible use of SL chat logs being used to train the AI. As there had been no official announcement on the matter, I contacted Linden Lab to see if they would comment on the acquisition. Due to matters of vacations, etc., it took a while to obtain a response, but this week I did receive an official statement on the acquisition, which hopefully addresses some of the concerns raised in the forum thread:

Linden Lab has always been a place where new ideas are explored both in and outside of Second Life. Blush is one of those explorations—a small, independent product with its own team and no connection to Second Life user data. Blush is a separate effort focused on AI companionship, while our focus in Second Life is on growing and improving the world our creators have built.
We have no plans now or in the future to use Second Life conversations or content to train AI systems. Any such use would require explicit disclosure in our Privacy Policy. Second Life remains our flagship offering, built around empowering human creativity, and we are continuing to invest heavily in it with recent updates like glTF imports, WebRTC voice, our mobile app, and Project Zero.

– Linden Lab spokesperson

The Blush App page on Google Play, listing the Lab as the new developer

Given this, it would appear that the intent is to have Blush AI continue to operate independently from Second Life using its own revenue stream via in-app purchases. Most particularly, it makes clear that conversation logs, etc., from Second Life will not be used to help train the Blush AI, nor is likely that there be any other connections between Blush AI and Second Life user data.

Obviously, the question remains why make such an acquisition in the first place. Without any direct statement from the Lab, anything relating to this question is pure supposition. On a personal level, I have no strong opinion on; AI tools / entertainment of this nature simply do not interest me at all. So long as the acquisition doesn’t interfere with /detract from the on-going effort to enhance and grow Second Life, which remains the Lab’s bread and butter, then I can happily ignore Blush AI. That said, given that past acquisitions by the Lab haven’t always gone that well (Blocksworld being the only real exception), I will admit to my curiosity being piqued as to how this one progresses and how long it lasts.