What does "install Flash plugin" in WebView mean?

4
votes

In a small WebView app I wrote, I am able to load YouTube and see the picture the represents a video clip, with the familiar right-pointing arrow that is supposed to start playing the video:

enter image description here

But... when I touch that arrow, nothing happens (the video is NOT played).

I did enable the plugins setting in WebView, but that didn't help:

mWebView.getSettings().setPluginsEnabled(true);

So, I searched for more clues about how to make Flash (YouTube) run embedded in my WebView and I found the following hint:

I think you also need Flash to be installed, like in Android 2.2 and above.

I am OK with the requirement for Android 2.2 but what I don't understand is what "install Flash plugin" means: YouTube plays fine in Android's default browser (which is based on WebView AFAIK) and also in the YouTube app that's also installed in my device. Doesn't that mean that the Flash plugin is already installed?

If the answer is "no", what do I need to do to install it?

3
androidflashpluginswebviewandroid-webview

3 Answers

2
votes

The Adobe Flash plugin is available from the Android Market for Android 2.2+ devices. It may come pre-installed on a few devices, but on most it does not.

Search for "Adobe Flash" in the Android market to download it, then try running your app again.

1
votes

Youtube got a HTML5 version, which means you can watch their videos without having flash installed. So better check flash suppport on a site where you can be sure that only flash is being used, eg http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ which also tells you what version of flash you got installed.

0
votes

Could it be a problem related to Javascript not being enabled on the webview?

  myWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);