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Wednesday 13 February 2013

Use Adobe Flash Player on Android Devices

Is anyone else annoyed that Android has followed the Apple trend of trying to "kill off" Flash? That Adobe Flash Player is no longer available in the Play Store?

"Flash is Dead." We are told by Google. "HTML 5 is the way to go."

HTML 5 may be the way forward, and looks great, but many are very slow on the uptake in upgrading their websites. So, if you are like me, and still use websites on a regular basis that use Flash, when you view them on your Android device you can be bitterly disappointed.

Have no fear, Emalf is here! Yes, those with Android 3.x (Froyo, Gingerbread) may still have it installed and working, even if they do not get updates any more. But what about Android 4.0 and above (ICS, Jelly Bean)? There are mixed reports that ICS will support Flash, but you need to get the installer from a third party source (which can be risky), and that Jelly Bean won't work with the Flash Player without a complicated hack or a different web browser.

WRONG! Adobe is still producing Flash Player for Android. I can confirm it not only works on Ice Cream Sandwich, but flawlessly on Jelly Bean as well, as I use it on both my Smart Phone and my Tablet.

But how? You may ask.

Simples!

Go here to Adobe's Official Flash Player Archive.

Two thirds of the way down are the installers for Adobe Flash player 10.x and 11.x. There are installers for Android 2.x and above. There is a separate list for Android 4.0.

Download the latest version of Flash Player for the Version of Android on your device. Save the .APK to your computer and copy it to the SD Card on your device. You can do this via USB, WiFi or sync it using Dropbox etc.

All you need to do now is install it. As you are not downloading and installing from the Google Play Store, we need to change a small setting first.

To do this, simply open the "Settings" menu on your device, select "Security" and make sure that "Unknown Sources" is enabled, by ticking the box. You may see a warning about third-party software, which you will need to accept in order to continue.

REMEMBER TO SWITCH THIS BACK OFF WHEN YOU ARE DONE! This is for security reasons, to stop any nasties infecting your device.

Next use a File Manager to explore your SD Card and run the .APK file. If you already have an old version of Flash Player installed, it will simply upgrade it.

With installation complete (only takes a few seconds), there is only one thing left to check.

Open your stock Web Browser - Sadly this will NOT work with Chrome. Although I haven't tested, I am aware of rumours that it works with Firefox and Dolphin. If anyone can confirm, please comment below.

Open the menu and select "Settings". Select "Advanced" and then "Enable plug-ins". Set this to "Always on".
Now all that remains is to test it on your favourite websites that use Flash, and enjoy using the web again on your Android Device.

The only downside is, that to keep your Adobe Flash Player up to date, you need to check their archives regularly and perform the upgrade manually (as above). If you don't you may find some of the sites stop working as the web version is updated.

EXTRA: On the Adobe Archive site is a suggestion box (on the left hand side), Please comment in it, asking for Adobe Flash Player to be re-introduced to the Google Play Store. The more people who ask for it, the more likely it is to happen. Personally I think it is worth a try.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome, Thank you for this info. Been looking for a solution as I use a lot sites that use Flash.

Just wish this worked in Chrome on my Tab.

Emalf said...

Me too. Glad it worked for you though.

Thank you for reading.

Emalf

jakson0100 said...

Flash Player for Android is no longer available but users can still download adobe flash player for android.Keep in mind lot of sites that have HTML5 use it only on specific user-agents, they can't detect that you have Flash disbaled, so if you got with desktop browser they assume you got flash.

Anonymous said...

You are a Diamond!

Anonymous said...

Hello Emalf

You're offering great insight here, and I have a question for you..I downloaded the package install_flash_player_ics.zip containing "Flash Player 11.1 for Android 4.0 (11.1.115.81)" but when I upzip it, I do not find any APK files so am really confused. Am I missing a trick here?

Best regards,

Emalf said...

I think you are downloading the wrong file. You need to download the APK file, it is not in a zip, if you get it from the link above it should come down in this format. Once you have the file, just run it as per the instructions above.

Thanks for reading.

Emalf

Emalf said...

Here is the link to the latest Adobe Flash Player for Android 4x.

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/android/11.1.115.81/install_flash_player_ics.apk

Emalf

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