Kiss Flash Player Support Goodbye in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Day one of Google I/O was dominated by Jelly Bean and a couple of days on, the Android community is having fun getting to grips with the latest iteration of the Android OS. The latest discovery is that Android 4.1 isn't Flash friendly.

Back in November, Adobe revealed its plans to focus on Flash for the PC and mobile applications packaged with Adobe AIR. Part of this shift in focus involved the discontinuation of development of Flash Player for mobile browsers. Now it seems the end is nigh for the Flash plugin for Android.

Adobe yesterday announced that Flash Player is not certified for use with Android 4.1 and recommends users with devices running 4.1 uninstall Flash Player. Further, beginning August 15, the company will use the configuration settings in the Google Play Store to limit continued access to Flash Player updates to only those devices that have Flash Player already installed.

"Devices that do not have Flash Player already installed are increasingly likely to be incompatible with Flash Player and will no longer be able to install it from the Google Play Store after August 15," the company said. "

If you're not among the lucky few using Jelly Bean, you might be wondering what this means for you and your Ice Cream Sandwich (or lower) phone. Adobe says the easiest way to ensure ongoing access to Flash Player on these devices is to use a certified device and ensure that the Flash Player is either pre-installed by the manufacturer or installed from Google Play store before August 15.

Will it be worth giving up Flash for Android 4.1? Read this: The 9 New Features Coming in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

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  • shqtth
    I guess Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, uses lemon flavoured jelly beans :o
    Reply
  • tacobravo
    Does this make sense?!?!
    Reply
  • ricardok
    Am I the only one that will miss Flash?? I do use a lot of flash based websites..
    Reply
  • beardguy
    Way to shoot yourself in the foot Adobe. This article should answer the obvious question…why?
    Reply
  • kidster3001
    Why is this a surprise? Last year Adobe said the ICS version of the Flash plugin was the last mobile version they would ever make. Did everyone think it was just "wink-wink, only kidding"?
    Reply
  • gsacks
    Really, what's the big deal. Flash may be ubiquitous today, but as support dries up, every flash site will move to HTML5 out of necessity. It isn't like there's going to be millions of users out there who can't access flash web sites. Those sites simply won't be flash anymore.
    Reply
  • killerclick
    This will kill Flash on the desktop as well. Every site that can move to HTML5 will do so, and those that don't will become increasingly irrelevant.

    Of course there's those couple of hundred million that play Zynga games but Zynga will eventually move to HTML5 as well.
    Reply
  • livebriand
    Who needs Flash on phones anyway? I'll be glad when it dies altogether.
    Reply
  • mrmike_49
    livebriandWho needs Flash on phones anyway? I'll be glad when it dies altogether.AMEN!

    It is against my religion to allow flash on my pc - can't die soon enough for me
    Reply
  • DSpider
    I got rid of it 8 months ago on my desktop and haven't looked back since. Good riddance, I'd say.
    Reply