Adobe Flash is coming to Apple iOS devices

September 9, 2011 By Mike Dunn

Adobe's Flash Media Server 4.5 will bring Flash to Apple's iOS devices. Flash videos will be viewable in Safari even though Flash isn't supported.

Even before all the patent lawsuits the original mobile phone dispute is Apple vs. Adobe over Flash. Apple has made a point out of not supporting flash on its iOS devices, much to Adobe’s chagrin. Adobe announced today that it has created a solution to the problem, and Flash will be viewable via Adobe’s new service Flash Media Server 4.5.

Apple’s iOS version of Safari still won’t support Flash, this is a change in how Flash content is delivered to iOS devices. Adobe’s Flash Media Server 4.5 will detect what type of device is attempting to view the content and will stream Flash videos in a format that is supported by iOS. As of right now only Flash videos are supported in Flash Media Server 4.5, but Flash advertisements will be coming soon.

For Apple users this is currently the best of both worlds: All of the Flash videos you want but without any of the negatives with running Flash. Since Flash will not be running on iOS it will not eat up the same processing power or have the energy draining properties of Flash on mobile devices. There have been attempts in the past to convert Flash into HTML5 in hopes to bringing Flash to iOS, but none of those attempts have brought Flash to Safari.

It appears that Adobe could no longer ignore the large amount of web traffic generated on iOS devices. The feud is not over, and this might actually spark a new feud with other mobile platforms. If iOS devices are able to get all the benefits of Flash without the negatives why can’t Android or Windows Phone 7? Adobe might be opening up a can of worms with Flash Media Server 4.5.

Showing 25 comments

Michael M Chronister at 10:36pm 10th September 2011 BOOOOO!!!! Thumbs down..
Stephen Ross at 11:17am 10th September 2011 About time
Rizwan Azim at 10:24am 10th September 2011 hmm definitely..
Xtianholics Rombawa at 7:01am 10th September 2011 hmmm.. :/
Frederic Ditan at 6:06am 10th September 2011 from samsung galaxy tab 10.1 now i have the best option to make!
Reason To Live at 4:58am 10th September 2011 Steve Jobs dead
Jason Hopwood at 4:37am 10th September 2011 But wait, you need an IOS 5 for the option!!!
Orion Rodriguez at 4:29am 10th September 2011 Obviously Freda didn't hear them IOS DEVICES iPad=big iPod it's there
Christopher Vokey at 4:19am 10th September 2011 Bout time
Freda Garner Williams at 2:36am 10th September 2011 What about iPads!!??
Jericho Dominguez at 2:30am 10th September 2011 The flash this is really great
Alan Root at 1:56am 10th September 2011 I hope this works for android devices, too. Flash mobile is useless.
Lupe Diaz at 1:30am 10th September 2011 Womp womp womp that took forever I've had it on my windows phone for awhile and its actually quite helpful.
Gabriel Butler at 12:58am 10th September 2011 Finally.
Mike Marra at 5:45pm 9th September 2011 Will it also load web pages that require flash?
1. Mike Dunn at 11:09pm 9th September 2011 from what I understand that will be coming, but not yet, it is just videos first.
Bernd Currie at 12:34am 10th September 2011 Steve Gone Flash In
Luis Lauranzon at 12:24am 10th September 2011 I've had an iPad since the beginning and have rarely needed flash. And in those times I was like "eh, whatever" It just really isn't that important. Especially with more and more websites jumping on the Apple train.
Eric Asianman Quach at 12:19am 10th September 2011 Thought Steve Jobs said that HTML 5 is the future or something like that, and there was no need for flash
Jason Kyle Kwiatkowski at 12:18am 10th September 2011 FINALLYYYYYYYYYYY
Maryann Tursi Romantini at 12:18am 10th September 2011 Whaaaaat?
Andrew Gillingham at 12:09am 10th September 2011 WHATTTTTT
Akio Strasser at 12:08am 10th September 2011 ha, that's right!
Diego Vieira at 12:06am 10th September 2011 At last...
Maddison Jane Schumacher at 12:04am 10th September 2011 YES.