Second Life on Mobile · · 8 min read
Second Life Voice Message: How to Send One in 2026
A Second Life voice message is a recorded clip you send in an IM, the way you would on WhatsApp, and the standard Second Life viewers cannot record one. Second Life's instant messages carry text, and its voice is live: you talk to the people around your avatar, or you start a voice call from an IM. To send a voice message that the other person plays whenever they like, you need a client that records it for you. Thunder Viewer does that from any browser, and the person you send it to can play it even if they use Firestorm or the official viewer.
This guide covers both halves: how live voice and IM voice calls work in the standard viewers, and how to record, send and play a voice note step by step. It also sorts out the searches that land here by accident, from voice changers to "voice message download". If you mostly use Second Life from a phone, our overview of every way to run Second Life on mobile is the place to start.
The short answer
- Live voice, built in: every major viewer can talk in nearby chat and place a voice call from an IM. Both are live; nothing is recorded.
- Recorded voice messages, not built in: an IM in Second Life is text, so there is nowhere in the standard viewers to attach audio.
- Voice notes through Thunder Viewer: record up to two minutes in an IM, and it arrives as a playable note in Thunder Viewer or as a link anywhere else.
How voice works in Second Life today
Second Life has two kinds of voice, and both happen in real time.
Nearby (spatial) voice. When you join voice in a region, you hear the avatars around you, panned the way you would hear them in a room: closer voices are louder, and voices to your left sound like they are on your left. The grid moved this to WebRTC, which is why it now runs in browsers and on phones; our explainer on Second Life's switch to WebRTC voice covers what changed.
IM voice calls. You can also call one resident privately. Linden Lab's own guide to IMs and voice calls describes the classic route: right-click a nearby resident and choose IM or Call, or open their IM window and press Call. The call rings on their side, and if they answer you talk live.
Both are good when the other person is there. Neither helps when they are not, which is exactly the moment a voice message is for: a store customer who logs in tomorrow, a friend in another time zone, a builder you want to walk through a change without typing three paragraphs.
Why there is no voice message button
A Second Life IM is a text message. When the other person is offline, the grid stores it and delivers it the next time they sign in, but it stores text, not audio. Voice, meanwhile, flows through a separate live voice server that mixes audio for whoever is connected right now and keeps nothing afterwards.
So a recorded voice message needs two things the grid does not provide: somewhere to keep the audio, and a way to tell the other person it exists. A client can supply both by keeping the recording itself and sending an ordinary IM that points to it. That is how Thunder Viewer's voice notes work, and it is why they reach people on any viewer.
How to send a Second Life voice message with Thunder Viewer
You need a Second Life account and a browser on a computer, phone or tablet. There is nothing to download.
- Sign in at Thunder Viewer with your Second Life username and password. If your avatar is already signed in to Firestorm or another viewer, close it first: Second Life allows one active session per avatar, and two viewers will keep signing each other out.
- Open an IM with the person you want to reach, from your inbox, your friends list or their profile.
- Tap the microphone at the right of the message box. It shows whenever the box is empty and gives way to the send button as soon as you type.
- Allow microphone access the first time your browser asks.
- Talk. The bar shows a red dot, a timer counting toward the two-minute limit, and a live waveform of what the mic is hearing, so you can see it picking you up.
- Send with the paper-plane button, or press the X to throw the recording away. If you reach two minutes, recording stops on its own and waits for you to send it.
The note appears in the conversation straight away as a player: a play button, the note's own waveform and its length. Voice notes work in one-to-one IMs; group chats and local chat stay text.
What the other person sees
This depends on their viewer, and it is the part that makes voice notes practical in Second Life rather than a closed feature.
On Thunder Viewer, the note shows as the same player you see: tap play, watch the waveform fill in as it plays, and tap anywhere on the waveform to jump to that point.
On Firestorm, the official viewer or any other viewer, the IM arrives as a single line, for example:
🎤 Voice note (0:12) https://thunderviewer.com/vn/Ab3dE6gH9jK1
Viewers turn web addresses into clickable links, so they click it and the note plays in their browser on a simple page that shows who sent it. They do not need a Thunder Viewer account or a sign-in. If they were offline when you sent it, the IM waits for them like any other, and the link works when they get it.
Tips for voice notes people actually play
- Keep it short. Under a minute gets played; two minutes of thinking aloud gets skipped. The two-minute cap exists for a reason.
- Say who you are and why first. In a store, "Hi, this is the owner of the shoe shop, about your order" lands better than a cheerful greeting with no context.
- Use text for anything they will copy. SLURLs, L$ amounts and item names belong in a typed line next to the note, not read aloud.
- Wear headphones on a phone. The mic sits close to the speaker, and a quiet room sounds better than a noisy one through any microphone.
- Treat the link as shareable. Anyone who has the link can play the note, so do not record anything you would not put in a forwarded message.
Voice messages vs voice calls: which to use
Use a voice call when you need an answer now and the other person is online. Use a voice message when they are away, when the explanation is easier said than typed, or when you are on a phone and typing is slow. Store owners tend to use both: a call for a customer who is in the shop right now, a voice note for one who left a question overnight. For the live side on a phone, our guide to Second Life voice on your phone walks through joining voice from a phone browser.
What we learned building this
A few details from running voice notes on our own servers, because they shape how the feature behaves:
- Speech does not need music quality. Browsers record Opus at around 120 kbps by default. We record at 24 kbps, which is what messaging apps use for voice, and a 15-second note comes to roughly 40 KB instead of more than 200 KB.
- The waveform comes from your mic while you talk. Rather than decoding the file afterwards, which some browsers cannot do for their own recordings, the recorder samples your loudness ten times a second and folds it into 40 bars. That is why the waveform is ready the moment you send.
- The audio is saved before the IM goes out. The link in the IM is the message, so it must never point at nothing. If the upload fails, nothing is sent and you are told why.
FAQ
Can you send voice messages in Second Life?
Not in the standard viewers, because Second Life IMs carry text and voice is live. You can talk in nearby voice or place an IM voice call, and with Thunder Viewer you can record a voice note in an IM that plays on any viewer.
Can I send a Second Life voice message from my iPhone?
Thunder Viewer runs in your phone's browser, so the steps are the same as on a computer: open an IM, tap the microphone and allow access when the browser asks. There is no app to install.
Is there a Second Life voice message app or download?
You do not need one. Voice notes work in the browser, and the person you send one to plays it in their browser too. There is nothing to download on either side.
Can Firestorm users hear my voice note?
Yes. They receive an IM with a link, click it, and the note plays in their browser. They do not need to sign in or install anything.
Are voice changers the same as voice messages?
No. Voice changer and voice morphing apps alter how your live voice sounds while you talk in-world. A voice message is a recording you send for someone to play later. They solve different problems, and the voice changer pages that show up for this search are about the first one.
How long can a voice note be, and how long does it last?
Up to two minutes per note. Notes are kept for 30 days after you send them, so they work like messages rather than an archive.
Can I send a voice note to a group?
Not at the moment. Voice notes are for one-to-one IMs; in group chat, type your message or start a call with the person you need.
If you want to send your first Second Life voice message from any browser, Try Thunder Viewer free.