Apple won’t allow Flash on its iDevices. They have their reasons and by now we’ve learned to live without it. Yet, some tenacious folks just can’t let go and have come up with the most clever workarounds.
Usually the workarounds are web-based and not very robust, The latest trick is, however, quite different. Brought to you by @comex, the guy behind the Spirit Jailbreak, it’s a port of Adobe’s own native mobile Flash plugin. Specifically, the plugin Adobe recently released for Android-based smart-phones. It works directly in Mobile Safari (but requires that you jailbreak your iPhone). Stunned? Wait until you see how well it performs too:
As you can see, it only runs on the iPad for now, but support for the 3GS and iOS4 is on the way. It will be made available to the general public as soon as it’s deemed stable enough by its creator. In my opinion, to make its point, this is what Adobe should have done a long time ago.
In the meantime, comex invites developers to come help him out on GitHub.
How do you feel about it? Antidote, or poison?
[via iSpazio]
I’d rather force developers to code in html5 than force users to jailbreak.
I’d rather force Apple to give end users choice than force developers to bend to Apple.
I’d rather let Apple do what they want with their own hardware. They know their technology best. Flash is outdated technology. Why have flash when it will bog down your hardware? I give props to Apple for thinking ahead rather than using crappy technology for internet browsing, etc.
I’d rather have flash advertising that you can turn off, than be forced to view advertising from Apple, the real reason iphones/ipads can’t handle flash…
Are you under the impression that, if the iPhone/iPad ran Flash, there would be no iAds?
And, just out of curiosity, what do you think the programmers and publishers who give you all the software you love will do to pay their rent if they can’t advertise?
iPad has been made to browse the web. Flash is on the web. Apple doesn’t support Flash. We absolutely don’t care what you think about this! It’s a lack and that’s all!
This is such a stupid thing to say I doint even know were to start.
So you say HTML5 will replace Flash? First: HTML5 is a Markup Language. The only two Things HTML5 “do” is providing a CANVAS and a VIDEO-Tag. Nothing more. the real beauty behind HTML5 is the well known power of javaScript. You know, the same Javascript everyone was moking aboput and disabling it because it sux? Yes.. now everyone is turning it on again I guess.
But even so, did you ever saw a HTML5 Demo on your iPad which was more than just some balls running over the Display? And ev en this bucking liek hell. Go ahead, watch this Videos:
youtube.com/watch?v=rfmbZkqORX4
Is this the Web-Experiance you want? Is this it?
What you totaly miss, is that a Framebased Aniamtion is *ALWAYS* a CPU-hungry proccess. In Flahs like in the HTML-Canvas-Tag. But Flash runs alot smoother? Disagree? Go ahead, look up the endless Videos on Youtube or make your own benchmark. Did you tested the HTML5 Demos Apple recently released on your iPad? My God… you have NO Idea what you talking about. But you sure will whine alot when the whole Web would only use HTML5. One way or another.
“But even so, did you ever saw a HTML5 Demo on your iPad which was more than just some balls running over the Display”
Yes. There’s this. http://slides.html5rocks.com/
And I’ve always liked this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdMhq9qz828
The post I’m replying to is a good example of how things work on the internet: Someone says something with great conviction and derision, and we think it’s true. We forget that sarcasm, aggression and anger are not substitutes for data.
Well, first you’re going to have to explain to devs how to make something like farmville, millionaire city, all other flash games in HTML5. So far, it’s not even close to being possible.
Figure that one out first then more people will be on board with HTML5.
This is absolutely awesome. I might even buy an iPad now.
I have a feeling that the reason apple doesn’t want flash is because many of the App Store apps are around the same quality of many flash games on the web.
IT’S ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the whole web cant’t simply convert to html5. Apple has to realize that consumers who buy their products want to be 100% satisfide. if over 75% of the web is flash-based, how are consumers gonna be satisfied with no flash-enabled? as somone else mentioned, we should have the “option” to enable or disable flash at times. No matter how many people say that they can live without flash or love the fact that apple has not incorrporated it in their device, YOU GUYS R LIARS! we were all stunned in the begining when there was no flash, and still, deep down we know you really want it, just to bold to admit it.
I PRAISE YOU @Comex! <3
….lol no homo
The web is not 75% flash based. Flash doesn’t even make up 75% of web video (it’s closer to 66%).
You know, I just don’t get all you fools. No one SAYS you have to own an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. You don’t HAVE to own it. For whatever reason, it doesn’t matter, it’s Apple’s ecosystem. They can do whatever the heck they want with it. You don’t like it, either don’t buy it and purchase a shi**y netbook or other useless hardware or live with the decision you’ve made and enjoy what you have.
I’m a developer and Flash = Trash. He’s the real truth. Flash the technology is exactly what Apple says it is on mobile devices. You want to blame someone for dropping the ball, blame Adobe. Apple has requested they meet certain specs to play, Adobe hasn’t done it. You don’t see Adobe complaining that Apple’s specs are too harsh or unachievable do you. No. What Adobe has done is to choose a lesser platform, where they can get away with overtaxing the CPU and battery draining the handset and no one will complain/blame them because no one polices the system. Good luck with that! Just look at PCs who suffer from bloatware, spyware, you name it.
On top of that, the only developers that are complaining are the ones that have based their careers on it. You wouldn’t like it either if the world was moving to mobile and you’re career wasn’t being fed by the dominant mobile platform. Just like PC I.T. people who always came up with some BS excuse as to why their companies shouldn’t integrate Macs into the fold. Who wants to invite the guy who’s better than them into the party.
Grow up boys and grow a set. Flash is dying and it’s because Adobe built it on an immovable foundation. Kinda like Microsoft I guess. They got so big it’s hard to turn on a dime when the world around you changes.
I’m in compete agreement. Apple was right about the floppy drive, it’s right about flash. It’s inherently unstable and has no place on a mobile platform, especially one that already has limited battery life. If HTML5 is the future, like so many developers have already said it is, than it’s time to stop clinging to the past and move on.
Stagnation ruins the technology industry.
@craig I agree 100%. I have an iPad and I have to honestly say that I don’t miss Flash whatsoever. Sure I run across a site with a video I would like to see but that’s why I still have a PC. As a matter of fact I also have a netbook that I paid pretty much the same price for as the iPad and I gotta tell ya guys it doesn’t compare to the iPad in performance.
Even though it has Flash capabilities it’s almost useless since watching videos is choppy and frustrating, it really sucks. I have been able to be much more productive and entertained on a device that in some peoples eye does less.
By the way I upgraded my PC’s Flash to the supposedly stable new awesome Flash and guess what, it still crashes. But you know what’s awesome? Now Firefox tells you that Flash crashed so I could restart my browser and wait for it to happen again.
And you couldn’t be more right about the whole problem being Adobes fault. They’ve been developing Flash for so damn long but for whatever reason can’t seem to get it right. Maybe it’s time to start thinking ahead and listen to some folks (Like Apple) who have been pretty damn successful in marketing products to the masses, maybe they know what they’re talking about after all!!!
Definitely not poison. Just am extra add on that apple thinks is “slow” but as we see its not. I’m jailbreaking asap as this cones open to me.
Me too. No matter what handsome Craig and beautiful Karl says.
Apple never said Flash was slow. Apple said Flash was unstable, chewed up the battery and created a proprietary development platform.
I’d rather have the option and the freedom to choose for myself what I can and can’t do with hardware that I own, instead of Steve placing limitations on me. I tip my hat to Comex for giving us more freedom, and the timing is perfect on this 4th of July
It might drain my battery, but ill use it anyway.
As controlling Apple is, I support their blocking of flash and pushing for HTML. Quite frankly, even one flash “object” running on my Mac causes CPU usage to bump to at least 50%, ad cases the fans to go fast within 10 minutes. Meanwhile an HTML 5 ” object” used about 1% extra CPU usage. Flash runs like crap on Apple products and that is why they are blocking it.
HALLELUYA!!!
I’m ready to beta test this anytime! This is the ultimate idevice jailbreak!
We all know Apple’s reason for banning flash was so they can make more money by over-controlling what we do with their idevice, this should proove it once and for all.
I love idevices, just hate apple’s dictator ways.
How does one make more money by banning Flash in favor of an open, free standard? How do you see Apple collecting fees on the use of HTML5?
Punchline: When those who jailbreak to use Flash find their iPhones are frequently crashing, the battery dies in 10 minutes and you can fry an egg on the back of the phone… they’re not going to say “Flash sucks”. They’re going to say “Apple sucks”.
Can’t find on how to install this? What source is it under in cydia???
Do people not realize anything, I’m tired of people telling me to go buy a non apple product because I don’t like one thing that they do. The reason why we get all these new updates (iOS4, etc) is because people argue and complain for features that the CONSUMER would enjoy and make Apples products better. If the consumers didn’t complain about stuff Apple would think their products are so perfect that people don’t need new hardware or new software. Plus there iDevices are so amazing that people can’t simply switch. The “Apple ecosystem” is great but it’s not perfect. Just like everything else, there is room for improvement. Next time, before you tell someone to go buy another phone, why don’t you think about all the things you wish your iPhone could do. Believe me there are things I wish I had on my iPhone that android users hve. For example, google goggles. Yes I know it’s coming but if people wouldn’t want it and ask for it on the iPhone they would never had started porting the app.
@Andrew… Ur foolish if you believe Apple ultimately “listens” to the customer. It does, and it doesn’t. Apple already knows what it wants to include in it’s software and I’m 100% positive that it has its own internal timetable. What we request is already on the list for them to add and has NOTHING to do with when WE request it or DEMAND it. As much as everyone likes to think Apple is a hugh monolithic company, it’s not. It’s a medium sized company with limited resources. They just happen to be some of the best and brightest resources.
Simply put, the consumer wants everything, including the latest and sometimes untested “buzz” technologies. Apple doesn’t have the resources to dump “everything” into an OS in one fell swoop without hell breaking lose, the OS getting out of control and out of their hands and then they’re faced with the similar kludge that Windows has become over years of trying to appease and make everyone happy. iOS works, precisely because Apple controls it.
Just remember this. Apple at this point can care less if developers and low level tinkerers wan’t things for the platform. Apple builds ‘CONSUMER’ devices for the masses, not the few. The consumer doesn’t give a damn if they can’t access something they’re vaguely familiar or don’t know about. Take the iPhone 4 reception issues. This is nothing new about cell phones and not a major flaw, but the press LOVES to poke at Apple if they get the chance. The consumer “thinks”, wrongly I might add, that the iPhone 4 has a problem when it doesn’t.
All the consumer cares about is that the damn thing works. (i.e. the whole ecosystem.) They don’t get viruses and it doesn’t crash while adding value to their lives. After that, these piss-ant arguments about Flash, etc. mean nothing to them. Apple rightly cares only what the consumer thinks and how they interact and cares about what they can elegantly design and integrate without a lot of hassle.
Corey above hit the nail on the head. In today’s universe we shoot the messenger and the message. If the current implementation of Flash was on the iPhone, undoubtably it would crash and add significant drain on the battery. The consumer isn’t gonna understand why or how it crashed, it’s only gonna say “the iPhone sucks!.” All along it’s going to be Adobe’s or some other vendors fault, but the consumer doesn’t care. It will always be Apple’s fault. As a developer, shareholder and 24 year user of Apple’s products, I believe in the insulation Apple pads into its thinking. The iPhone doesn’t suck. It’s not perfect but it keeps getting better. That’s proven. Just because it doesn’t happy on some people’s timetable doesn’t mean it’s bad.
To state again, don’t like it. don’t buy it or sell it to someone who’d kill to have it. Don’t like those words, then go ahead and jailbreak or brick the damn thing. Do whatever you want. But don’t blame Apple for doing what they are allowed to do, have a right to do and a reason to protect. If Apple creates ONE bad product, its stock will drop $100. Why give some third rate developer (and flash mobile developers have so far proven themselves third rate) the ability to tarnish your reputation. Just look what AT&T does for Apple. And Apple put themselves in that hole!
No thanks, the world must move on from the Flash monstrosity, bring me more HTML 5!
Nice. Now answere my question and show me a HTML5 Demo on an device were Flash is not supported, because HTML5 can do all this today in the same fashion.. e.g. lets say… an iPad?
Definitely poison…. but sweet
Hi everybody. Did not find anything on the net about installing Frash.
Do you have any hint about it? Thanks!
As explained in the post, it’s not public yet.
1/
Anyone comparing Flash and HTML 5 at this point clearly has not much of a clue… It’s akin to comparing a Smart a and a Lamborghini.. Sure they are both cars… Funny thing is Apple’s HTML 5 website does not perform well at all on iPhones themselves lol–and we’re just talking basic fades here.. I mean for God’s sake.. fades… How simple is that ?!!… As for Canvas in general.. well look at examples (http://www.canvasdemos.com/) and you’ll understand how sophomoric HTML 5 is at this point.. conceptually sure.. but in all practicality… er… in a few years it might possibly do the myriad things Flash does now… (and Flash obviously will also have developed.. so the race could be endless…). Flash is far from outdated.. and HTML 5 is very very far from show-time ready…
People should understand Flash does much much more than display image galleries and videos… These days a lot of people “offer” their ideas on Flash why hardly understanding what is is… or what ActionScript is..
As for Apple’s decision concerning iphone/ipad… I find it dictatorial.. and very unwelcome… should people stop selling ice cream because it makes certain people fat ? Same with Flash.. even if it slows down the user experience, makes heavy demands on battery life etc.. etc.. so what ?! The user should be able to decide what he wants to do with his smartphone. Ultimately I think this decision was a bad one ethically and commercially.. Apple shot itself in the foot in some way and is driving people towards Android especially. People like me who sooo love Apple… We shall see numbers in the future but I think Apple messed up here.. and Android phones sales will shoot up big time.. 2010 is the start of Android’s fast fast rise… And believe me I love Apple, have 2 Macs.. have always worked on Macintosh as a graphic designer.. but this time Apple lost the plot..
I sort of wanted to get an iPhone for the support of certain applications I already use in my office setup.. but I think I will get a Droid X.. provided they sell it in my country…
In my view at this point.. Mac OSX is the best computer platform and Android the best smartphone platform..
You Apple fan boys should go and buy a Nexus One with Froyo on it right now and give it a try at browsing the web. It’s a whole different experience and guess what, it’s a mobile phone running flash Steve Jobs!! Go $%*# yourself!!!
I don’t wanna go into the HTML or Flash discussion. I find it really inappropiate that Apple doesn’t support Flash at all on the iPhone and iPad, consedering a lot of sites use this technology.
Thanks for bringing Frash to change this!