How to Play Streaming Flash Video on Kindle Fire

“Is there a way to download a flash player for the Kindle Fire HD? It is quite frustrating to not have access to streaming online videos.” — Rachael E. Smith said on http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/

We all know that Adobe has stopped the support for its Flash on Android devices since August 2012, which is the main reason that the 2nd Generation Amazon Kindle Fire and the Fire HD models cannot play Flash anymore (note that all Kindle Fires are Android devices). Adobe did this because HTML5 gradually takes the place of Flash in playing online videos. However, HTML5 has some way to go before totally replacing Flash. Additionally, many video providers haven’t made the transition from Flash to HTML5 yet, and 75% web videos are still viewed using Flash. That makes it tough Kindle Fire fans to access Flash contents without a workaround.

Many Kindle users complain that they have no idea how to play Flash on Kindle Fire, and they have tried to search Google for the Flash player for Kindle Fire. To tell you the truth, currently, there’re two ways that you can adopt so as to watch online video on Kindle Fire:

1: Install Adobe Flash Player on Kindle Fire

2: Use Amazon’s Experimental Streaming Viewer

Install Adobe Flash Player on Kindle Fire

Actually, there’s no better way than installing Flash Player back on Kindle Fire. I mean, to install an earlier version of Flash, and install an earlier version of the Dolphin Browser which still supports Flash on Android. Simple enough, if Kindle support Flash again, all problems will be solved, right? So, how can we manage this? Well, do the following steps:

Do the following on the Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Fire 2:

• Go to the ‘Home’ screen.
• Swipe down (lightly pressing and pulling down) from the top of the screen.
• That gets you the Quick Settings Menu.
• Click on “More” at the top right.
• Go down the Settings list to “Device” and click on that.
• Choose to “Allow Installation of Applications From unknown sources.”

  (Amazon allows this, while Barnes and Noble doesn’t, on the Nooks)

Installation files end in “.apk”

Then download and tap to install, to your Kindle Fire 2/HD, the files at the following links, with your new Kindle Fire 2 or Kindle Fire HD:

1. the free file manager app, ES File Explorer

   (It’s useful also to get Easy Installer, which looks only for install-files and then shows them to you so that you can choose which one to install. If you have any problems installing Flash Player, be sure to get and use Easy Installer.)

2. the specific Adobe Flash file offered at XDA Developers Forum
3. and also
4. the Dolphin browser (v8.5.1), identified in the forum post as “APK Download,” which supports that specific Adobe Flash Player file.
   

   (I actually use the latest Dolphin browser HD (v9.2.0), which also works for me with the older special Adobe Flash Player file — I get the latest Dolphin HD from http://wwww.1mobile.com - To use the app store, you download its store app! which works like the Amazon app). The Dolphin makers continue to update that browser; HOWEVER, the one file that’s recommended at the Amazon Kindle forum is the v8.5.1 linked to above, so it’s better to just get v8.5.1 linked above to be sure.)

Once an install file (.apk) downloads, you’ll receive a Notification that it’s been downloaded. Then, do the following:

1. When you receive notification that the Adobe Flash Player is downloaded,

   run or launch the ES File Explorer app (or run Easy Installer).

2. Look in the “Downloads” folder if an app doesn’t auto-install.
3. You should see the Dolphin HD browser icon.
4. Tap it to install the browser.
5. Do the same for the Adobe Flash Player file.

Dolphin HD Browser settings

When you’ve launched the browser, the usual Android Menu icon (it’s square and looks like an air conditioner or a washboard) can be tapped to bring up several options.

1. Tap on “More” (it has 3 lines).

• Then tap on the 3rd option, which is “Settings.”
• Go down to “Web Content” and tap “Flash Player” — the choices are:
  • Always on (videos will auto-run - easiest but it’ll slow down some page loads and sometimes Flash routines will cause crashes, one reason Steve Jobs hated it).
  • On Demand (You’ll tap a blank rectangle — or one with a down-arrow in it — to have it run only when you want that.)
  • Off (I see no reason to use this.)
• Other settings - ones I use, in case you wonder what might work:

  . Auto-fit Pages: ON

  . Default Zoom: 200% (Close up)

  . Open Pages in Overview: ON

• ALSO, make sure Javascript setting, just below Flash, is On or Enabled.

Then, after installing the app files and making sure that the Flash setting is set to run Flash either Always or On Demand, you’ll be able to switch to the Dolphin HD browser app when needing to see a video requiring Flash.

Use Amazon’s Experimental Streaming Viewer

Well, the solution above seems to be a little complicated, and additionally, installing a side-loaded APK means taking risks with your devices and/or personal information. Therefore, many Kindle fans don’t prefer to do that. Good news is that, in answer to its customer’s pleas, Amazon has actually developed the Experimental Streaming Viewer and integrated it into Silk to allow playback of some Flash video. That means you can still view Adobe Flash videos from a limited number of websites with the experimental streaming viewer.

The experimental streaming viewer converts Flash videos into a format that the Silk browser can understand. If Flash videos are detected on a compatible website, a notification will appear at the bottom of the screen. If you choose to view Flash content using the experimental streaming viewer, content for the Flash-enabled site (including any SSL content) will pass through Amazon’s servers if Silk’s cloud accelerator feature is enabled. Individual identifiers like IP and MAC addresses are not associated with browsing history, and are only collected for technical troubleshooting.

However, Amazon is yet to reveal how far it’ll take the experiment but said it has broadened Flash-friendly access to around a dozen sights at the time of writing. So, you may still need to wait for a while till they perfect the viewer.

Tags: Flash, kindle fire