In September 2013, Adobe decided to abandon the development of Flash Player for Android. This means that over time, users of the green robot will have to give up the videos and games available in this format and adapt to the global trend that is bringing all the content to the HTML5 standard, which is much lighter and more compatible since does not require the use of external plugins to browsers.
Without this premise, it must be said that in reality you can still use Flash Player on Android, just download the latest version of the plugin developed by Adobe and install it on your smartphone or on your tablet. The results are erratic, in the sense that many contents are not played smoothly and/or lead to the browser crash, but in some cases you can still use the plugin in a fairly acceptable manner.
Do you accept the risk? Well, then take five minutes of free time and put into practice the directions I’m about to give you. Below are all the steps you need to follow to play Flash content on your device. In the tutorial, I will use a device equipped with Android 5.1 but in reality the procedure can also be implemented on other versions of the operating system of Google, better if more dated (as support for Flash Player is better). I wish you a good reading and a good fun!
Before downloading Flash Player for Android you must authorize the installation of applications from unverified sources (that is, outside the Google Play Store) on your device.
Go then in the Settings of your smartphone or your tablet (the gear icon ) and select the item Security from the menu that opens. Next, move the lever located next to the item Unknown sources to ON and press the OK button to save the changes. Remember to deactivate the option again after completing the installation of Flash!
Download Flash Player for Android
At this point, connected to the Internet site that hosts the archive of all versions of Flash Player, using your Android terminal, and presses the first link placed under the heading Flash Player for Android 4.0 archives or under the heading Flash Player for Android 2.x and 3.x archives, depending on the version of the operating system with which your phone or tablet is equipped. If you can not find the right connections, here are the direct links to download the version of Flash Player that best suits your device.
- Flash Player for Android 4.0 and later: download from here.
- Flash Player for Android 2.x and 3.x: download from here.
To find out which version of Android your device is equipped with, go to the settings menu, scroll the screen to the bottom and press the Info item on the phone. You will find the exact version of the operating system under the heading Android version.
Once you have completed the download of Flash Player, expand the notification menu of Android by swiping from the top of the screen to the bottom and open the installation package of Flash Player (eg install_flash_player_ics.apk ). If you do not see the Flash Player installation package icon in the notification menu, start the Download Android application or download a file manager like ES File Manager and use it to go to the smartphone/tablet download folder.
In the screen that opens, if you are asked with which app to open the file presses on the item Install Packages and complete the setup by first pressing Install and then Finish.
Enable Flash Player for Android
After installing Flash Player for Android you need to get a browser that plays games, videos and other content in Flash. Among the best browsers suitable for the purpose is Firefox, which I do not think needs too many presentations. You can find the Android version of Firefox directly on the Play Store and install it for free on your device by first pressing the Install button and then click Accept.
When installation is complete, open the drawer of your smartphone/tablet (ie the screen where all the apps installed on the device are listed), start Flash Player and choose to open the link with Firefox. Subsequently, presses on the item Tap here to activate the plugin that appears in the middle of the screen and configure Flash Player choosing the local storage of content only from the sites you visit. After this step too, try to connect to an Internet site that contains elements in Flash, presses the lego brick icon to enable the plugin and Flash Player should load automatically.
Please note that some sites disable Flash content in their mobile versions, to activate them you must select the Desktop Mode option from the Firefox menu (…).
If Firefox does not satisfy you, you can also try Dolphin Browser, another browser for Android rich in advanced features that still manages to “digest” Flash Player. To optimize its operation with games, presses the dolphin icon located at the bottom of its main screen and select the Settings icon from the menu that appears. In the screen that opens, select the Advanced tab and enable the Flash game mode option.
The alternative solution – Puffin Browser
If you were unable to install Flash Player by following the above instructions or experiencing serious problems with playing the games? Know that you are not the only one. Unfortunately, more time passes and more Flash Player is destined to “lose hits” on Android, but maybe it is not yet the last word!
Have you ever heard of Puffin Browser. This is a browser whose main peculiarity is that of autonomously processing Flash content without resorting to external plugins. This means that by installing it on your device, you can play most of the games and videos online without problems through a cloud-based system.
Another “gem” that Puffin Browser reserves to its users is the ability to simulate a trackpad or an on-screen joypad to improve the degree of interaction with games in Flash: at the bottom of the browser screen there are the icons of a joypad, a mouse and a keyboard that, if selected, simulate the presence of one of these on-screen input devices. Comfortable, right? The only problem is that the reproduction of the contents is not always as smooth and fast as that guaranteed by the “original” Flash Player.
To test the capabilities of Puffin Browser in playing content in Flash, launch the application, skip its initial presentation and link to a site that contains games or videos in Flash. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised by the results obtained!
Note: there is an unofficial version of Flash Player that is partially compatible with Android 4.4 and above, you can find it on the well-known XDA forum but I do not recommend installing it as it is not officially approved by Adobe and in any case not fully functional. Then do not tell me I did not warn you!