Google Search Results Now Notifying iPhone Users When Websites Use Flash

Google recently implemented a feature that warns iPhone users when search results include websites that use Adobe Flash, as Flash is not supported by the iPhone.

When searching for a site, pages that primarily use Flash are clearly marked by Google with a warning that the site may not work on a particular device.

flashexample

A common annoyance for web users is when websites require browser technologies that are not supported by their device. When users access such pages, they may see nothing but a blank space or miss out a large portion of the page's contents.

Starting today, we will indicate to searchers when our algorithms detect pages that may not work on their devices.

Google goes on to recommend that websites use the universally supported HTML5 and provides both Web Fundamentals and a Web Starter Kit for website developers.

Apple received a good bit of criticism when the iPhone was first released for not supporting Flash as it was used often back then, but interest in Flash has since been dying out in favor of mobile-friendly solutions.

Top Rated Comments

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citi

57 months ago

I would expect that this would apply to GOOGLE phones too considering they don't natively support flash either.

Rating: 11 Votes

troop231

57 months ago

If YouTube just completely dropped Flash, I'm sure Flash would go away faster..

Rating: 7 Votes

afferennen

57 months ago

Just iPhone Users?

Hey Juli, Some Android devices don't support Flash either. It's not just iPhone users.

Rating: 5 Votes

Zxxv

57 months ago

A common annoyance for web users is when websites require browser technologies that are not supported by their device. When users access such pages, they may see nothing but a blank space or miss out a large portion of the page's contents.

Nope doesn't bother me at all I just move on. I'd say it should bother the owners of the website more that I can't be arsed to work around to view their stuff. Their loss as theres plenty of other people out there to visit.

Rating: 3 Votes

coolfactor

57 months ago

If YouTube just completely dropped Flash, I'm sure Flash would go away faster..

YouTube delivers MPEG-4 video to supporting browsers/devices. It's not users choosing Flash at YouTube, it's YouTube having a business built up around ad placements. But I see your point... as long as something as huge as YouTube gives the thumbs-up to a particular technology, the world will thinks they need it, too. (Think "Microsoft Office").

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This is Google trying to differentiate themselves from competing engines even more, by appearing "mobile-friendly".

Rating: 3 Votes

dannyyankou

57 months ago

There hasn't been a single time this year that I loaded a webpage and thought "oh s*it, I need flash to run this"

Rating: 3 Votes

Carlanga

57 months ago

Ms. Clover, your title is not proper for the message google is convening

Android and iOS devices of today cannot do flash natively.

Proper title should be: Google Search Results Now Notifying Mobile Users When Websites Use Flash :eek: ;)

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This is not a feature to me. Just a complication. Google is just begging me to use Bing.

lol, but then again you own a phone and a tablet ;)

Rating: 3 Votes

the8thark

57 months ago

Hey Juli, Some Android devices don't support Flash either. It's not just iPhone users.

This.
The warning is for all mobile devices. iOS devices are just an unintended beneficiary of this.

Rating: 3 Votes

JoEw

57 months ago

If YouTube just completely dropped Flash, I'm sure Flash would go away faster..

That won't happen until IE shrinks more in marketshare and google figures out how to show ads with its html5 player.

It will eventually happen, but not for awhile.

Apple has no doubt assured the end of flash, which frees up more resources for adobe to work on other software.

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Hey Juli, Some Android devices don't support Flash either. It's not just iPhone users.

I thought Adobe dropped support for their mobile flash in 2011?

Rating: 2 Votes

OldSchoolMacGuy

57 months ago

By "iPhone users", MacRumors means "mobile users" and by "Now" they mean "since the beginning of June". :rolleyes:

Waiting for the next article on how Google now warns mobile users of websites that redirect to the homepage which has also been around since the start of June.

Rating: 1 Votes

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