Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video)
By Sean Hollister 
posted August 8th 2010 4:33PM
posted August 8th 2010 4:33PM
Cydia is a great place to hang out, and we're sure unlocking is pretty swell, but it's quite possible you and your freshly-rooted iPhone 4 have already run out of fun things to do. In that case, might we suggest giving Frash a try? That's right, Comex's Strong Bad-inspired port of Adobe Flash 10.1 has been compiled once again, and though it's still an alpha build there's nothing keeping you from experiencing the joys of animated advertising on your iOS 4 device. Instructions are exactly the same as in our Flash how-to for iPad -- jailbreak, download the .deb, upload it to a folder deep inside your phone via SSH, restart and you're done -- but if that sounds like too much work or you're worried about your phone asploding prematurely, you can watch from a safe distance as Homestar Runner struts his stuff. You'll find that and more in a video after the break, and a pre-compiled alpha build is available at our source link. 
What about previous models.
@n8equalsd
Apple should just give their consumers a choice on whether they have Flash installed or not. This is just an unnessisary way of getting Flash on your iPhone.
@n8equalsd
can i download it for the ipad too ???
@techisme Have you been living under a rock for the past month?
@n8equalsd DON'T DO IT! I tried it on my iPod touch 3G and it ruined it. Safari crashes every now and then, and I haven't been able to watch a single flash video on it! Moreover, the embedded YouTube videos show up as flash instead of HTML5 and so I couldn't even watch it! I'm goin back, I'll watch flash videos from Skyfire on my 5800
@statickeith You can uninstall it in Cydia
@techisme
Look up Frash for the iPad.
@Brt312 Ya that's what I'm doing. I don't think this was worth it. Dunno about iPhone 4 or ipad but def. Sucks on previous models.
@statickeith I had the same problems with it on my ipad. The youtube thing is what made me get rid of it.
@n8equalsd
Works great on my iTouch 3G. I'm spending the rest of the afternoon on Homestarrunner.
@Fail57 I believe it was rather a bridge...
@Fail57
So uncalled for. Realize that some people also have a life outside of the Internet and might sometimes go for a whole month not knowing how to jailbreak their latest toys. Crazy, I know. But they have a right to live too!
Wow, could he have picked a test flash app any more annoying than that? I don't think I lost enough blood from my ears
@The Dark Knight
Customers make that choice when they buy an iPhone.
Once this gets a proper release 50 million iPhone will say "is that it, is this what everyones been wanting? Bleurgh"
@The Dark Knight
they do give you a choice, the choice is to stop feeding them and move to Android
@techisme
WTF did you even read the fucking article?
Oh no! Steve won't like this one bit!!
@MrGreen
If you would just read the article (instead of just the title), you wouldn't have this problem
@The Dark Knight
It truly amazes me at how Apple is such a successful company even though they cripple their capable devices so much. They have one of the worst company philosophies to ever exist. Even worst than Microsoft.
@The Dark Knight
The problem is the industry now widely accepts that for Mobile platforms, HTML 5, CSS 3, and JS can offer everything that Flash can, but do it in a way that uses less CPU cycles which in turn means better battery life to the consumer.
So if these new standards can do it better than Flash, why not just wait until all web applications are re-written in it, and stick with Flash for the mean time, thus giving punters a choice?
Because people are lazy, particularly developers.
If a company knows that Flash isn't going anywhere any time soon, and is combatible with the iPhone and other hugely successful handsets, then they're not going to invest the time and the money necessary to move over to new the technologies of modern HTML, because they know theres no risk that there content won't be available to everyone.
This is a problem, because as consumers we care about our overall experience. If rich web apps can run better than Flash, and give us better battery life, we want that. But we're not going to get that, unless we make sacrifices along the way.
But lets be frank about this.
We're not really making sacrifices, I've used Flash on the N1, and its hardly a desirable experience.
Flash relies on MouseOver events, and because of this, ultimately, it fails to offer any credibility as a Mobile platform.
@rysle
"The problem is the industry now widely accepts..."
No they don't.
@Darkroom
rysle is clueless.. he's the reason why Apple can spread garbage and get away with it..
When I hear them say HTML5 can do the same things as Flash does.. that's the end of the conversation for me.
@n8equalsd This is old. I've had flash on my iPhone (3G) for over a year via a YXFlash. It worked flawlessly the few times I've used it... There just isn't any flash content worth viewing for the most part.
People who bitch about flash not running on iPhones are 99% hysterical droid users with limp dicks and fat fingers... WHY is there no RV movie support while were at it... Oh yea... Cause it sux and nobody wants it. Keep banging your pudgy little fingers away on your giant plastic droid phones about Steve jobs and his kool aid droid boys... Your making each other proud lol
@Darkroom
You are clearly not a developer, not a real one at least, maybe a html designer or script kiddy.
@rysle
I'm a developer... and I'm not lazy... and you are downranked...
@LordThree No flash content worth viewing on the net? Typical Apple iPhone fanboy. My iPhone for and EVO 4G beg to differ.
@The Dark Knight Yeah but the only downside of having it as an option is than when all of a sudden when the idiots that dont have any idea what flash is turn it on and then their battery life plummets they're gonna be screaming bloody murder about how the phone has such terrible battery life.
@devilstrider just installed it on iphone 4 works great but never found a reason to need flash in the past so dounbt i'll ever use it
@The Dark Knight
This is what I'm talking about. I might even ball up and buy an iPad if the final Frash build look good and functioning well. Also, Flash is not for the faint of heart so anyone try it with a lower-end yesteryear devices will have problems.
@n8equalsd
Sorry to hijack but what's with all the apple posts lately? I like reading about them but where's the Evo love?
@Darkroom
Even though what you're saying is true, you can't deny that apart from games, websites using menus in flash primarily rely on mouse over... At least in my experience.
@rysle
I kind of agree with you. As much as I would like to have Flash on my iPhone, I can see this as a good thing also. Because Apple refuses to put flash on their device, the transition between flash and HTML5 is probably moving a lot faster.
Let's be honest people if you had a Flash website and you knew that millions of iOS devices wouldn't be able to see your website, what would you do?
That being said, there is no reason why Flash and HTML5 can't coexist... In the end, I just want to be able to see the content whether it's because Apple added Flash or because websites where converted to HTML5...
@rysle : not industry standard... yet. Eventually it will be, but Jobs is using it as a political wedge.
@Darkroom Well the flash is terrible I'm happy apple didn't put it on.
@rysle what a clueless response! Have you tried running a JavaScript application on iPhone? Go try whilst I laugh knowing what is going to happen...
What the dousche?!?!
The first thing I would try with this is just ONLINE GAMES.
Yes they poop over the AppStore anyday and the sooner other platforms (fingers crossed MeeGo) get this the better it is for the consumer.
The AppStore is Apple's "Golden Egg" and when a competitive alternative is available on more open, cheaper and perhaps better devices, we can stop with the concept of "iPhone killer"
@LordThree shhhhh! When you learn the difference between your and you're then maybe you can join the adults in rational conversation.
@n8equalsd
Welcome to the world of choice iPhoners!!
@rysle
"Flash relies on MouseOver events, and because of this, ultimately, it fails to offer any credibility as a Mobile platform."
MouseOver's actually work on a multi-touch device in Flash, as Adobe has demoed in the past (look it up on YouTube). It's not always the best user experience, but it's no different from old HTML content that also uses MouseOvers.
As for battery life getting better with HTML5, considering there's also tests out there with Flash running faster, using less CPU than animated HTML5 content, since Adobe uses more of the GPU in Flash Player 10.1 where most HTML5 content is all CPU right now, you aren't going to get better battery life with HTML5 content. It's just right now there isn't much HTML5 animated HTML5 content out there. However, go to the various HTML5 canvas experiments out there on your iPhone and (if they work, since these experiments still generally target the desktop) watch how quickly your battery drains.
Also as a developer I'll add that it's not laziness that content isn't changed and updated, but time and money. There's plenty of developers out who aren't lazy, but they aren't going to redo websites for free on their own time because the technology has changed. Companies need to find the budget to do these sort of projects.
@Oskin
If I had a Flash website and knew that millions of iOS users couldn't use it, I wouldn't give a shit.
Every single one of them has a *real* computer, right? So what's the big deal here?
@fpad77
Huh?
I run javascript on my iPhone every time I browse the web.
Robust javascript support was one of the defining features of the original iPhone in 2007, RIM is only just catching up with it with the torch, Android, Chrome WebOS and Symbian use webkit based browsers because of javascript support.
Some of the Droidtard army are unbelievably ignorant.
@n8equalsd
If you're in NYC, and want to check the restaurant's web page. Many of them are flash. Many of which can't even be seen without flash.
It's my only gripe on having the 4g.
@rysle look up DRM in HTML5 video...
@suicidebob its about choice not just flash, when something new that you really want gets released and you want it but stevo says NO! i dont like it and i aint putting it on MY IPHONES! mine there all MINE! get it?
when you own something you....forget it if your still rooting for iphone then your obviously for someone else making your decisions. sorry to bother.
@hill60 Listen to yourself. Javascript performance on iphone is particularly bad. I work across all devices at work and android javascript performance is through the roof, whilst even the simplest javascript animation chugs along on iDevices. Ignorant repliers 8).
@MatthewFabb "The problem is the industry now widely accepts that for Mobile platforms, HTML 5, CSS 3, and JS can offer everything that Flash can.."
Sorry, you said EVERYTHING?? perhaps your not very bright or you just havn't read up on exactly what HTML5 can do??
For a start, HTML5 cannot connect to a webcam or microphone so that renders it pretty much useless for any chat or live webcam based site.
HTML5 prohibits browsers from making any way to programmatically enter full screen mode. It allows browsers to provide a way to view video full screen but not other elements. With Flash a user click action can trigger full screen of any content.
It cannot do Peer 2 Peer.. so that's live streaming/file sharing out the window.
And a big letdown is that HTML5 cannot Manipulate Binary Data whereas Actionscript can. This is very important when working with network protocols and file types and codecs.
There are many more reasons why HTML can never compete with flash and some of the missing things which it cannot do just cannot ever be done with it.
Finally! I don't get how owners of unjailbroken iPhones even use their devices...
@substance90
Why? What do you really need it for? I've had iPhones for 3 years and yet to find out what I'm missing from not having flash??
@Almo
90% of embedded content/dynamic content on the web?
@substance90
I meant Cydia apps in general. I, too, have only rarely missed flash on my 3GS.
@Mike10010100
Like? Ads? Again, what crucial things have I missed?