Adobe will soon disallow new Flash Mobile installs and will not support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Adobe have announced that their mobile Flash solution for Android will soon be restricted in ways that many of us can’t help. This past November it was announced that the plugin would no longer be actively developed.
This didn’t mean that it would be unavailable in the Play Store, but Adobe wasn’t going to support it save for critical bug fixes.
Adobe made it seem as if the plugin wouldn’t come to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but it eventually did. It seems Adobe’s seriously serious about getting rid of it come August 15th, though, as they will be restricting new downloads of the plugin in the Google Play Store.
If you grab it now and keep it on your device you’ll continue to receive security updates, but if you want it at any point after that you won’t be able to go through the official channels.
And Adobe doesn’t recommend installing the plugin on Jelly Bean as they won’t be testing it with the update and are unsure how it will affect performance and stability.
Some people may still get Flash Mobile or Flash Lite support through their OEMs’ efforts, but Adobe itself isn’t going to have its hands in the mobile space anymore.
In short, if you want Flash you’d better download it now. And if you want to keep it, don’t do a factory reset or get a new device.
Oh, and if you have Jelly Bean feel free to install the plugin, but don’t come to us for support because Flash Mobile is now the red-headed step child. [via Adobe]