Android 4.1 Jelly Bean: No Flash Support Says Adobe

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean devices will not get official Flash support, Adobe has confirmed.

Adobe will also remove the Flash player from the Google Play store after 15 August, 2012 and future updates will only be provided for those devices where it is already installed.

Adobe announced in November 2011 it was discontinuing its development of the Flash Player for mobile browsers to concentrate on PC browsing and mobile apps packaged with Adobe AIR.

Adobe said integrating Flash into a device's browser and multimedia subsystems involved a long certification process.

Certified devices typically include the Flash Player pre-loaded at the factory or as part of a system update, although in many cases users of uncertified devices have been able to download the Flash Player from the Google Play Store.

"However, with Android 4.1 this is no longer going to be the case, as we have not continued developing and testing Flash Player for this new version of Android and its available browser options," an official statement from Adobe said. "There will be no certified implementations of Flash Player for Android 4.1."

Adobe has decided to adopt HTML5 for mobile platforms instead.

The company recommended that users uninstall Flash Player on devices upgraded to Android 4.1.

"If a device is upgraded from Android 4.0 to Android 4.1, the current version of Flash Player may exhibit unpredictable behaviour, as it is not certified for use with Android 4.1," the statement said, adding, "Future updates to Flash Player will not work."

Adobe said the easiest way to ensure ongoing access to Flash Player on Android 4.0 or earlier devices is to install the player from the Google Play Store before 15 August.

Developers who need continued access to versions of Flash Player for Android will be able to access Adobe's archive of released software, although software installed from that source will not receive updates through the Google Play Store.