The flash player plays an important role on your smartphone. You will need it when you want to watch TV shows or some such sort on your phone. Both Android and iOS have stopped offering their devices and updates with built in Adobe Flash Player support. However, since it is one of the much-needed tools for many essential online services, you would need to install Adobe Flash Player on your Android.
How To Install Adobe Flash Player On your Android?
Google stopped offering Adobe Flash Player as part of its Android operating system from the release of Android Jellybean 4.1. Apple has stopped supporting it even before that. But still, there are several websites and games that have been built on flash. That makes it an important to have Adobe Flash Player for Android supported on your phone.
There are actually two options you can go for. Opt for a browser on your phone that supports Adobe Flash Player, or install Adobe Flash Player manually on your Android. We will be paying attention to the second option in essence – how to manually install Adobe Flash Player on Android?
The steps involved in manually installing Adobe Flash Player on your phone is relatively easy than opting for the paid browsers that offer flash support. Follow the steps indicated here below to install Adobe Flash Player on Android.
Step 1 – Get Your Android Ready
Well, no special techniques needed here. You would need to enable your Android to accept app installations from third party sources. To do this,
- Go to your Settings on your phone.
- Look for Security and locate the option Unknown Sources
- Toggle the switch to enable installation from unknown sources.
Step 2 – Download Adobe Flash Player APK
Adobe does have the Flash Player archives saved in its database. This lets you install the version that is most compatible with your version of Android. Follow the steps here below –
- Launch any of your favourite browser on your Android.
- Visit the Adobe Flash Player Archives at the official link.
- Choose the flash player version that should be compatible with your Android version. No need to worry here. If you find any of the versions you installed is not compatible, you can always uninstall it and check out another version of Adobe Flash Player for Android.
- Once the download is complete, you should get a confirmation indicating it.
Step 3 – Install Adobe Flash Player on Android
Well, this is the easiest part of the process. Just follow the easy steps here below.
- Locate the Adobe Flash Player APK for Android that you just downloaded.
- Tap on it to begin installation.
- The installation will continue and complete as with any other APK file.
- Once the installation is complete, you should be confirmed of the same with a pop up.
Step 4- Enable the Adobe Flash Player for Android on your browser
You have successfully installed Adobe flash Player for Android. But, it will not let you access the flash content on your phone as yet. You need to enable it on your browser.
Go to the settings option on your browser on which you want to access the flash content. You should see the option for enabling the flash plugins. Ideally, the settings should be available through the path Settings -> Advanced _> Enable Plug-ins. Kindly check it with your native browser or any other browser that you want to use with Adobe Flash Player.
Please note that enabling Adobe Flash Player for Android on your Chrome browser is no longer supported. You may need to opt for other supported browsers. Dolphin Browser is a good option if you have been consuming too much of flash content on your phone.
Once you have enabled the Adobe Flash Player for Android on your favoured browser, you can check if it is enabled properly. For this, just visit this site from the browser you have enabled the Adobe Flash Player. You should see a flash video as soon as the page loads. If you can see it, your task is complete – you have successfully installed Adobe Flash Player on your Android.
Access Flash Content through Supported Browsers
If you are unable to install Adobe Flash Player for Android APK for any reason, you may turn to the alternative option for accessing the flash content on your Android. The best way of doing it would be to use a browser that comes with Flash support built in.
Here are some of the browsers that support Flash content –
Puffin Browser
Puffin browser lets you access the flash content with ease. In fact, it uses the flash player in the cloud. However, you can experience the same speed and accessibility as in the case of a local flash player support. Moreover, the browser claims to encrypt your data and offer faster speeds. Data encryption is a great feature if you are concerned with your online security.
However, you may face a few restrictions as the servers are located in the US. If your region has any sort of content restrictions – you may not be able to access some of them. Moreover, if you are from China, United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, you may not be able to use the browser as it is banned in those countries.
Dolphin Browser
This is one of the popular Android browsers that support Adobe Flash Player. You do not need to install Adobe Flash Player on your phone to be able to access flash content with the aid of Dolphin Browser.
Install Dolphin Browser on your Android device and launch any website that has flash content on it. If you are unsure, you can visit the Adobe site itself for checking it out. When you a try t play the flash content, you will be directed to install Adobe Flash Player support and once you do it – it will be downloaded and installed automatically.
The Parting Thoughts
It may not be easy to imagine the world without Flash player at least as of now. There are still thousands of sites and games that run on Adobe Flash Player. However, the support has been withdrawn on Google Android ecosystem because of the certain abnormal behaviour observed in Android Jellybean 4.1 and above. However, you can install Adobe Flash Player for Android manually and continue to get the benefits associated with the flash content. You can also access the flash content through the supported browsers.
Have you used any of the methods above to install Adobe Flash Player on your Android? If yes, do share your views and experiences with us. If you know any other better alternatives, feel free to share them with us as well.