Development
Adobe has backtracked on its decision to end sales of Animate, formerly known as Flash, after users protested about losing years of work. The design software giant had previously stated its intention to cease sales, and even access to the application, starting from March 1, 2026, though with continued use for existing customers for up to three years.Mike Chambers, senior director, design marketing and community, said on Reddit: "Animate will continue to be available for both new and existing users. This is a change from what we communicated in the email yesterday."
Adobe Animate logo
(image from Adobe product page)
Animate is a design tool for creating animations in either HTML/JavaScript or SWF (Shockwave Flash or Small Web Format) files. In the original announcement on February 2, enterprise customers with three-year agreements could continue to use Animate until the end of their term or at the latest March 1, 2029. Those with other agreements had a maximum of one year from this coming March. The company suggested using keyframe animation in Adobe After Effects, or animation effects in Adobe Express, as other options, though these only replicate a small part of Animate’s functionality.That announcement was replaced today with a statement that "Adobe Animate is in maintenance mode for all customers... we will continue to support the application and provide ongoing security and bug fixes, but we are no longer adding new features."Although Adobe discontinued the Flash Player in 2020, Animate still has users among designers and game developers, some of whom were dismayed by the initial announcement. "This completely devastates my entire workflow. 24 years of building up knowledge and expertise in a tool, paying out thousands on thousands of dollars for CDs, downloads, and subscriptions," said one on Bluesky. "They should open source this instead of ending it," said another.
