I'm just curious as to what Apples rules and regulations are for iPhone games developed in Flash? And if it is not allowed are there ways around it? Because its sort of at the core of my concept...

The policy prohibiting interpreted apps make it simple: No Flash on the iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

That means no Flash players for the web. That means no games that require a Flash runtime.

It also eliminates some of the competitors to Flash, and alternate implementations such as open source flash players.


There is, of course, a way around it. You can get around it if you pay Apple a lot of money to negotiate a publishing deal; in that case you can embed Flash stuff into your app according to the terms of your contract.

Moving to Business/Law as it is not at all a programming question.

Quote: Original post by frob
The policy prohibiting interpreted apps make it simple: No Flash on the iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

That means no Flash players for the web. That means no games that require a Flash runtime.

It also eliminates some of the competitors to Flash, and alternate implementations such as open source flash players.

Wait, has Apple reversed stance again since September?

Last I heard, Apple explicitly relaxed the rules to *allow* flash deployment to the iPhone.

Quote: Original post by swiftcoder

Last I heard, Apple explicitly relaxed the rules to *allow* flash deployment to the iPhone.

Flash deployment is not allowed to the iPhone. What they do allow you to do is use tools created by 3rd parties (in this case, Adobe) that convert applications built in Flash to iPhone code. Prior to this announcement, you could only develop iPhone applications using the approved tools supplied by Apple.

Quote: Original post by arbitus
Flash deployment is not allowed to the iPhone. What they do allow you to do is use tools created by 3rd parties (in this case, Adobe) that convert applications built in Flash to iPhone code. Prior to this announcement, you could only develop iPhone applications using the approved tools supplied by Apple.

It may not be the usual Flash interpreter, but by any definition I can think of, it is deployment of Flash to the iPhone...

Regardless, my broader point is that frob's information is outdated, and for some time now it has been possible (and legal) for Flash developers to deploy their applications to the iPhone. Which if I am not mistaken, was the OP's original question?

Quote: Original post by swiftcoder
It may not be the usual Flash interpreter, but by any definition I can think of, it is deployment of Flash to the iPhone...

Regardless, my broader point is that frob's information is outdated, and for some time now it has been possible (and legal) for Flash developers to deploy their applications to the iPhone. Which if I am not mistaken, was the OP's original question?

But you are not deploying Flash to the iPhone, you are developing in Flash and converting it to something entirely different for deployment. The distinction is key, as it means you are limited in how you can develop your Flash application for the iPhone; it will have to be converted and it does not support all Flash APIs and versions. Without further information, this could indeed impact the OP's plans, especially since Flash is the "core" of his concept.

So, Frob may be slightly incorrect (although his wording looks correct to me, as the Flash runtime is indeed strictly prohibited), but at the same time, the answer to the OP's question is not a simple "yes" as there are limitations.

Quote: Original post by arbitus
But you are not deploying Flash to the iPhone, you are developing in Flash and converting it to something entirely different for deployment. The distinction is key, as it means you are limited in how you can develop your Flash application for the iPhone; it will have to be converted and it does not support all Flash APIs and versions.

How is this any different than deploying C code to the iPhone (versus the Mac)? You take an abstract textual representation, and transform it into a device-specific executable, which will be missing support for various C APIs...

Regardless, that is purely an issue of semantics [smile]

I know frob had (as always) the best of intentions, and replied based on his current knowledge of the situation. All I am pointing out is that in this case, he is incorrect, and Flash is (as of September) a perfectly viable way to develop for iPhone.

You can create a Flash application in Adobe's Flash tools, and then export it as an iPhone app - Flash compiled to iOS. But you can't run a SWF on iPhone.