Running Flash on smartphones is quite a rare feature we see nowadays. iOS does not support Flash at all and Google Play Store has removed the Flash Player for Android devices. Adobe will officially cease Flash support for Android devices shortly. That being said, Flash is but one of the most important elements of a website. It is often used to represent animations, transition effects, and even for online videos and streaming. For security and many other reasons, Flash is being discontinued from mobile platforms and being replaced by HTML5, but many of the web components like video streaming still solely depend on Flash. So while you still can, you might want to enable and use Flash on your devices.
iOS does not natively support Flash. It uses the YouTube app or YouTube’s HTML 5 version of the player to play videos. Similarly, Android also uses the YouTube app to play Flash videos on YouTube. But unfortunately, both iOS and Android fail to play online third party Live Streams natively. Also, some Flash content, like Flash games and other Flash animations cannot be viewed on these platforms. Well, if you worrying about how to get the Flash running on your phone, you are still in luck. Let us see how to go about “activating” the Flash content on iOS and Android.
Viewing Flash content on Android
If you want to enable Flash in all applications on your Android device, the best thing to do would be to install the Adobe Flash Player. But then again, Flash has already been removed from the Google Play Store. So you’ll have to install it from other locations. And, if you are going to install anything outside of Google Play, you need to explicitly allow your device to do so.
Enabling third-party app installations on Android
To enable installation of third-party apps on your Android device, go to Settings >> Security >> Unknown Sources. Now you will be able to install applications from downloaded apk files with the help of Package Installer.
Install Flash on Android
Though Google has removed Adobe Flash Plugin from its Play Store, you can still grab the apk file from somewhere on the Internet (and you could even use Google to search for it). Or you could even use an alternative App Store like Aptoide to do so.
Once you have downloaded the apk file, tap on it and let the Package Installer install it on your phone. Now that you have Flash installed, you should be able to view Flash content on the web.
However, some browsers like Google Chrome do not use the Flash Plugin even if it is installed. This is done for security issues, among others. You can use other Flash supported browsers like Firefox to view Flash content on the web.
Enabling Flash on Firefox for Android
– With Firefox opened, tap on the Menu button.
– Select “More” from the Menu and tap on Settings.
– On the Settings screen, tap Plugins and choose Enabled or Tap to play.
Now you will be able to play Flash content on your device.
Viewing Flash content on iOS
Using a Web Browser with built-in Flash support (Enable Flash Player on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch)
Due to the sandboxed nature of apps, iOS apps cannot make use of any externally installed plugins to play Flash content. However Puffin Browser has an in built capability to run Flash content. It is a paid app and is available at the App Store. There is also a free version which lets you try the built-in flash player for 14 days after which you must upgrade to the paid version to continue using Flash in it.
Puffin Browser is also available for Android devices and comes with similar paid and free versions. However, Android users may be able to find the paid version of the app available for free in some alternative App Stores.
Users having Puffin browser already installed on their devices do not require to install the Flash Plugin externally. They can directly access the Flash content in it.