We thought it was dead and gone, with a stake through its black heart and its foul corpse incinerated in napalm, but Flash for Android has risen from its stinking grave to haunt us once more. And it's all thanks to the BBC.
Auntie and other 'strategic partners' of Flash-spawner Adobe have put pressure on the company to make Flash Player 11 available in the UK once more -- chiefly to support iPlayer on smart phones.
"Flash Player continues to be available on Google Play for users in the UK for a short while due to requests from strategic partners," an Adobe bod told the Beeb. The company didn't say when in the future the software would be cast back into the fiery depths of code hell where it belongs.
The app won't work if you're already on the latest version of Android, Jelly Bean -- "FLASH PLAYER WILL NOT BE SUPPORTED ON ANY ANDROID VERSION BEYOND ANDROID 4.0.x," the company screams on the download page.
I had a quick look at iPlayer on Chrome on a Galaxy S2 running 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. It didn't work. I downloaded the Flash Player and lo and indeed behold, it didn't work. It still said, "To play this programme you need to download the Adobe Flash Player from the Android Market." Never mind that it's called the Google Play store now, I just did exactly that!
On Firefox the iPlayer site told me the most popular Android phone in existence was not on the list of supported devices. Finally I turned to the native Android browser (where I should have started, to be perfectly fair) and iPlayer worked just fine. Hooray!
Adobe pulled the plug on Flash in June, saying, "We have not continued developing and testing Flash player for this new version of Android and its available browser options." It announced it was killing Flash for mobile devices back in November of last year, to focus on supporting HTML5.
Are you happy to see Flash back? Or are you rounding up a mob of pitchfork-wielding villagers, determined to see it gone, never to pollute your mobile countryside again? Start a riot in the comments, or over on our flashy Facebook page.
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Comments 17
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anonymous 31 August, 2012 13:08
You can get round the flash issue by using the Dolphin browser.. then BBC clips et all work ok, thats what I do. Do others?
mark2410 31 August, 2012 13:13
Noooooo! kill it, kill it with fire!
(i dont like flash)
anonymous 31 August, 2012 13:36
anonymous 31 August, 2012 13:08
Never knew that. Cheers for the tip.
I really think the BBC should sort this out quickly. It's particularly frustrating if your a 4.1 Jelly bean user were this news means nothing except more annoyance. Basically they are saying, if you have a update to date phone, you can't use our services because we are behind and out of the loop on technology and we do not have a team working within the iPlayer that are capable of doing their jobs. Also BBC, please release an update with at least 720p video. There are a lot more phones now with HD sceens and that are more than capable of running this.
damien2501 31 August, 2012 14:04
The only thing worse than android is flash
anonymous 31 August, 2012 15:14
Funny how the BBC have their priorities set! iOS users don't have this problem, they all get HTML5 BBC iPlayer in fantastic 720p yet other platforms, they don't give a toss about! Asking Adobe to resurrect mobile flash just shows how lazy they are! Windows Phone & upcoming BB10 don't have a hope at this rate.
billfred 31 August, 2012 15:30
@ damien2501
Why are you such an annoying Catch yUo Next Tuesday?
damien2501 31 August, 2012 16:44
Impressive sentence structure Billfred. I am an annoying catch you next Tuesday though, well observed
anonymous 31 August, 2012 18:00
@damien
If you dislike android so much, why did you click on the article and read it, not only that but to comment as well? your point added nothing to the discussion. Try using constructive criticism rather than spouting negative childish remarks.
In relation to the article, this shows the BBC have no real intention of supporting anything other than iOS properly because they knew flash was disappearing since November 2011 and have chosen not to implement HTML5 like the other big companies.
anonymous 31 August, 2012 18:08
I love flash! HTML5 isn't quite ready for prime-time yet.
anonymous 31 August, 2012 18:19
Why do people come on here to express their hate for Android or Apple? Someone has just stated "The only thing worse than android is flash". I can't even begin to comprehend the stupidity of this statement.
In the words of Nicholson "why can't we all just get along?"
billfred 31 August, 2012 18:32
You're probably so stupid you don't know what I was spelling out because of the family friendly filter on this site. Shame I can't say it your face. But hurah for the anonymity of the internet...
timmylish 31 August, 2012 19:26
When do the children go back to school nowadays?
billfred 31 August, 2012 19:50
Not soon enough. Noisy lot. God I'm old. Now lets get drunk! Happy weekend everyone.
anonymous 31 August, 2012 20:32
I use flash/iplayer on my Nexus 7. Works fine. Check XDA for instructions.
Mark Anderson 1 September, 2012 09:38
I use Flash under Firefox on my Nexus 7. The picture quality is a bit rubbish to be honest.
I'm not impressed at Google and Adobe. Launching a new tablet and stopping it using Flash natively is stupid. Sure, build for the future, but sort this now please.
anonymous 28 November, 2012 09:55
BBC and all other sites who are configured to use Adobe Flash Player..... re-design your websites - Adobe is out of touch - sock it to 'em!
erikon 9 December, 2012 16:34
flash player