If you own an iPhone, you are likely to be familiar with the problems associated with trying to watch a video on your You Tube app or Safari web browser. The primary issue is watching a video that is formatted for Adobe’s Flash Player, which isn’t supported by the iPhone, the iPad or iPod video.
Although Flash is the leading software for video content on the web, Apple has taken a preventative stance against Flash on the iPhone. Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs, who recently stepped down due to health reasons, submitted an open letter in April of last year, explaining his stance against Adobe Flash. The important points of his letter relating to video content on the iPhone stresses the unreliability and performance of Flash. Jobs wrote that Flash is one of the primary reasons why Macs crash. Symantec, the security software developer, has said that Flash had one of the worst security records in 2009. Many users might not be aware that Flash stores user information, similar to the way cookies work on browsers. Jobs also said that Flash is an inferior and older generation software and that the newer video technology known as H.264/MPEG-4 is vastly superior for video content and is likely the type of video you are able to see via your iPhone without the aid of an additional phone app. Lastly Steve Jobs wrote that Flash uses an enormous amount of CPU power and thus is a smartphone battery drainer.
But you still want to watch videos on You Tube, especially since the You Tube app is an app that came with the iPhone. So what other apps can you use to watch Flash videos? Skyfire is perhaps the best-known app that supports Flash video on the iPhone, iPad or iPods with video capability. The Skyfire Browser app has had some issues in that videos would sometimes take awhile to load. However there was a significance difference in managing battery life of the iPhone. But with the recent release of Skyfire Lab Inc.’s new app called VideoQ, you can now watch Flash video via your Apple web browser Safari with more speed in loading and is known to save an average of 75% of your bandwidth while watching videos.
There are a few other apps you can purchase from the iTunes Store such as Photon Flash Web Browser, MediaRainbow, and Puffin Web Browser.
AppsVerse’s Photon Flash is similar in price to VideoQ and has been receiving rave reviews and has been known to load videos faster than its competitor, the Skyfire Browser. The Media Rainbow app is priced 50% less than the other two apps and Puffin Web Browser is an even better bargain and like the others mentioned here, have outstanding reviews and is even touted as being faster than its higher priced competitors.
So if you want to watch videos and hate seeing that message that says “this video is not supported” on your iPhone, any of these aforementioned apps will solve the dilemma and make your user experience that much better.