Is Flash Near the End?

With all the well-publicized security vulnerabilities of Adobe Flash Player, it's no wonder major browsers (Chrome, Safari, IE, Firefox) are no longer fully supporting it. As a Viddler client, you and your viewers may still be able to view Flash content, in the short term, by following the additional steps listed below. However, we are strongly recommending you transition to an industry standard HTML5 player. Over time, more and more of your users will be unable to view Flash content.

Viddler released Arpeggio, our HTML5 player, back in July 2014. Since then, we have been encouraging clients to replace their Flash player with Arpeggio. Viddler will continue to support Flash player embeds that are already on your websites. If the browser allows Flash, the legacy Flash player will play. If the browser does not allow Flash, a HTML5 player will automatically be loaded to play the video.

To continue to be able to view Flash content on your browser, you, and your viewers, need to enable Flash on all your browsers’ settings. Since we are not all tech savvy, this can be a little confusing and or frustrating. (But don’t throw your computer away yet. Check out our handy guide, below.)

For those of us in the Apple iOS world, Flash content won’t play or display on your mobile fruit devices either. All latest Apple devices will fall-back to the HTML5 player. (Older devices, like first generation iPads and iPhones, will not do this, but will attempt to load the Flash player.)

Recommendations for Viddler Account Administrators

Here are the steps to change your player from Flash to HTML5 on your Viddler account:

1. Login to your Viddler account (www.viddler.com/login)
2. Select "Videos"
3. Select "Default Settings"
4. Select the "Player Setup" tab
5. You will see "Arpeggio Player" & "Legacy Player" > Select "Arpeggio Player"
6. Scroll to the bottom and hit "Save & Continue"
7. The next screen is the customization screen where you are able to change the color of the player (this optional).

A Handy Guide to Keeping Flash Working (For Now)  

If for some reason, you are unable to use the Arpeggio player (HTML5), you will need to provide your users with instructions on how to enable Flash on their browsers in order to view your content. For a complete list of instructions, please see the official Adobe Support Page. Here are instructions on how to enable flash on most browsers:

Internet Explorer:
- Click the Tools icon in the upper-right corner of Internet Explorer. (The icon looks like a gear.)
- In the pop-up menu that appears, click Manage Add-ons
- In the dialog box that appears, select Toolbars and Extensions.
- In the list of Add-ons, look for “Shockwave Flash Object” (another name for Flash Player).
- In the Status column, check to see whether Shockwave Flash Object is Disabled. If it is disabled, click the row for Shockwave FlashObject to highlight it.
- In the lower-right corner of the Manage Add-ons dialog box, click Enable.
- Close the Manage Add-ons dialog box.

Chrome:
- In the URL bar type chrome://settings/content/flash?search=flash

- If you want Chrome to ask if you want to enable Flash, toggle on the "Ask first"  button.

- To allow Viddler to run Flash, click on "Add".

- In the "Add a site pop-up box", type http://www.viddler.com, then click "Add".

- Once you have clicked add, your Chrome settings page should look like this:

- Close Chrome settings 

Firefox:
- Choose Firefox > Tools > Add-ons.
- Select Plugins.
- In the list of Add-ons, look for Shockwave Flash (another name for Flash Player) and check the status that appears to the right of the plug-in name.
- Select Always Activate.
- Close the dialog box.

Safari:
- Open Safari, and choose Safari > Preferences.
- Click the Security tab.
- Ensure that Enable JavaScript is selected.
- Ensure that Allow Plug-Ins is selected.
- Next to Allow Plug-ins, click Manage Website Settings
- Select Adobe Flash Player
- From the "When visiting other websites” menu, choose Allow.
- Close the Preferences window.
- Close the Plug-ins screen.