Coffee Pancake
This isn't a bug. There doesn't seem to be anywhere to put feedback where it will be read by relevant parties.
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I'm not having a good time with the mobile app. I've been a user since Alpha. Upgraded to premium+ specifically to participate and follow development. Own multiple compatible devices, some new, some a little older (mostly A14).
The problem; The app is delivering the wrong thing in the wrong way.
While admirable and technically impressive, It's trying to beat the hurdles faced by the desktop client with few meaningful adaptions to the platforms core 'streaming' architecture and with little to no thought put into the experience.
On a desktop, I have network stability, compute and patience for a viewer to extrapolate an entire world and its participants from few breadcrumbs, each exploding fractal like into chains of assets and textures, all processed and decoded locally.
On mobile .. I don't. I should be getting a 'baked' download for each avatar ready to be unpacked and rendered with only future changes streamed. Same for the local area.
Actually mobile on data .. in a major US city, the best Verizon can muster, stationary, sitting down with both hands on my device. Not a chance.
I really do not want to dismiss the solid improvements to the app and (having done viewer development) understate how incredibly impressive it is. The dev is a literal wizard, the app just doesn't do anything of value.
I don't have a use case for "hey look, here's Second Life improperly & incompletely rendered running on my magic glass rectangle".
The experience presented by the app should be the foremost consideration. To that end, presenting Second Life as completely as possible and assuming the experience will automatically follow is fundamentally flawed. Especially when presented on a limited device burdened by necessity with many technical and usability compromises.
Second Life's undefinable magic is in the minutia, all of which are immediately overshadowed by technical problems and why the 2 decade cry from desktop users has been a loudly nonspecific "fix the bugs".
There needs to be some real thought put into what the mobile app is trying to deliver as an experience.
  • What does a successful, enjoyable, satisfying mobile session look like?
  • How long does a session last?
  • What locations does this favor?
  • What are the core requirements that experience demands?
The app shouldn't attempt to tick all possible boxes Second Life as a platform can offer only to accomplish them all badly; No one is asking for a Second Second Life with extra unreliability and jank.
  • What are the primary use cases people have for logging in?
  • Which of these fit the parameters and constraints presented by a mobile device and session?
  • What does the mobile app need to excel at that use case (not simply the minimum requirement) ?
Second Life is not strictly a sight seeing platform. The literal destination is almost never the destination (even if it would fully rez on mobile).
We do not visit a club to be literally at a club, we go to a club for the entertainment and social experience on offer. We do not visit a shop simply to be at a shop.
While it is true that exploring, roaming alone, standing about looking at one's own idealized virtual manifestation are all things we do in Second Life. None are worth the attention, engagement and powerful mobile device required. They don't in isolation deliver any of the driving needs someone might have to login in the first place. The lack of social tooling front and center brings these specific use cases to the fore; to make matters worse, the app excels at none of them.
Second Life's beating heart is as a social platform.
The mobile client's usability lives and dies based on social tooling. How quickly and easily can a user interact with another user; Locally in chat, direct messaging, group chat, notifications and so on.
  • Why is the activity of chatting with nearby avatars several taps away behind menus.
  • Why does it seem to throw hard fought world and avatar data away when switching.
  • Why are communications reduced to a red dot on a burger menu, out of sight, out of mind.
  • Why is there the presumption that I might wish to use voice. Let me spell this out as clearly as I can; I don't use my phone to make phone calls.
  • How easy is it to look at another users avatar and read their profile?
  • How fast can I respond to a nearby avatar saying hello?
  • How fast can I start or switch to an IM session?
All this has to function seamlessly in a modern multi tasking mobile paradigm.
  • How quickly can I switch from Reddit to reply to my Second Life friend and then switch back?
  • How easy is it to make my avatar do a thing to post on tiktok or some other social media?
  • How long can I stay online with my phone in my pocket?
Why should I use this rather than Discord.