Products · Product
Adobe Flash
Raised as a usability problem by 278 people on Hacker News over 20 years (2007–2026), in 238 threads.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Breaks normal browser features like links, search, zoom and screen readersUnreviewed
20072026- Flash sites made deep links meaningless, so specific content can't be reached directly2026-06-15
- People couldn't figure out how to do anything or find navigation on Flash sites2026-03-18
- Flash sites were full of gawd-awful UI and UX decisions2025-12-12
Doesn't reliably prompt or auto-update, so users stay on old versionsUnreviewed
20072026- Users had to repeatedly deal with Flash updates, a hassle they tolerated2026-06-18
- Flash install and enable prompts pop up annoyingly, even for ads users don't care about2016-05-17
- Flash doesn't reliably prompt or auto-update, so users stay on old versions2015-07-14
Must wait through slow intro animations before using the websiteUnreviewed
20072026- Users must wait through slow intro animations before using the website2024-01-25
- Users must wait through the intro animation every time the page loads2020-11-21
- Forces an intro that cannot be skipped and requires Flash and sound2019-10-13
Click-to-play placeholder goes unnoticed, so audio players seem brokenUnreviewed
20072026- Game ignores tap-to-click, so player can't start playing2017-01-06
- Click-to-Play gives a horrible experience, especially on YouTube2015-07-14
- Sites with no obvious click cue silently fail to play content; enable option hard to discover2013-01-31
Flash ads consume much CPU, making sites unusableUnreviewed
20072026- Flash ads kept busy-looping in background tabs, melting the computer's CPU2022-03-07
- Flash banner ads peg the CPU, making the browser janky and unresponsive even when hidden2020-12-30
- Flash ads on sites like TechCrunch load and respond slowly2013-09-25
Ignores the user's own font, colour and zoom settings for textUnreviewed
20072026- Can't copy and paste text from Flash content, so details must be retyped manually2012-06-29
- Flash used just to show a custom font on headings is bad experience2010-10-21
- Flash text is fixed-size and can't be selected, copied or pasted2009-06-18
Scroll views ignore mouse scroll wheel, needing hacksUnreviewed
20072026- Scroll hijacking forces dozens of mouse-wheel scrolls before content appears2015-12-06
- Flash content ignores user preferences and can't be auto-scrolled in Firefox2012-02-08
- Mouse wheel stops scrolling the page when the cursor is over a Flash applet2011-06-03
Poor touch use, memory hunger and battery drainUnreviewed
20072026- Software so buggy and unstable it caused problems in desktop browsers2020-06-15
- Slow, laggy touch response; no hover; broken scrolling and tapping; breaks browser navigation2020-06-15
- Drains battery, poor touch usability, memory hungry, crashes browsers2012-02-08
Fullscreen click freezes Safari for 5+ seconds, so viewers miss contentUnreviewed
20072026- Fullscreen video in Flash never works as expected, especially on Linux2011-07-26
- Clicking fullscreen on YouTube locks up Safari for 5+ seconds, causing missed video2010-02-16
- Clicking fullscreen on Flash video freezes Safari for 5+ seconds, causing viewers to miss content2010-01-26
Business sites' animated UIs hide hours and phone numbersUnreviewed
20072026- Business sites built in Flash had confusing animated UIs, hard to find hours or phone numbers2024-10-09
- Flash sites used mystery meat UIs where controls were hidden or unclear2020-12-11
- Phone number and address hidden behind obscure, erratically placed buttons in Flash apps2015-05-23
Must install an old IE and Flash plugin to access the siteUnreviewed
20072026- Users must install an old IE and Flash plugin just to access the site2022-12-01
- Non-tech-savvy users struggle to install the browser plugin, and even experts had trouble getting it working2021-09-15
- Users must download, install, and restart the browser before using the site2007-03-15
Hard to uninstall completely because removal is a painUnreviewed
20072026- Cannot uninstall or downgrade Flash, so the desktop app stops working2021-01-12
- Flash is hard to uninstall completely because removal is a pain2016-04-08
- Couldn't find a way to uninstall Flash on OS X2010-06-05
Audio and video start playing without the user choosing to playUnreviewed
20072026- Autoplaying video offers no way to pause or stop it, only mute2015-08-28
- Audio and video start playing automatically without the user choosing to play them2013-10-02
- Videos autoplay in background tabs, so users can't tell which audio is playing2011-11-09
Games need arrow keys and mouse, which phones and touchscreens lackUnreviewed
20072026- Flash games were hard to play on phones: no keyboard or mouse, and too small to use2025-03-02
- Games need keyboard or mouse keys the phone cannot press2010-08-19
- Flash games rely on arrow keys and mouse, which phone virtual keyboards and touch screens lack2010-02-02
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Users had to repeatedly deal with Flash updates, a hassle they tolerated2026-06-18
- Flash sites made deep links meaningless, so specific content can't be reached directly2026-06-15
- Flash game took forever to load over dialup as a kid2026-05-09
- People couldn't figure out how to do anything or find navigation on Flash sites2026-03-18
- Flash sites were full of gawd-awful UI and UX decisions2025-12-12
- Flash ads and interface elements were awful to deal with in browsers2025-11-04
- Flash YouTube worked on Android but felt janky and horrible to use2025-11-04
- Flash-based restaurant sites and dropdown menus were borderline unusable2025-10-12
- Flash games were hard to play on phones: no keyboard or mouse, and too small to use2025-03-02
- Editor crashes on large files, forcing repeated OS reboots after a few edits2025-03-02
- Generated phone app templates are so slow that users think the app is frozen2025-03-02
- Business sites built in Flash had confusing animated UIs, hard to find hours or phone numbers2024-10-09
- Flash websites were slow and unusable for visitors2024-09-12
- Traps user on mobile so the back button doesn't work2024-07-23
- Flash on Android was extremely laggy, mis-mapped mouse to touch, and crashed from memory2024-05-08
- Flash sites had text that couldn't be enlarged and were inaccessible2024-02-12
- Users must wait through slow intro animations before using the website2024-01-25
- Site is unusable when javascript is blocked2023-12-24
- Flash widgets never worked like native ones and had keyboard focus problems2023-10-23
- Flash UI assumed desktop conventions and fixed screen sizes, ill-suited to mobile use2023-08-23
- Flash was bloated, drained batteries and performed very slowly2023-07-26
- Flash player crashed mid-episode, forcing the user to reload the browser2023-07-15
- Android Flash runtime was nearly unusable when released2023-07-15
- Flash on iPhone was visibly laggy and nearly unusable, with poor touch input mapping2023-07-14
- Flash sites load slowly, are inaccessible, and bury content under pointless flourishes2023-04-23
- Terrible performance makes it unusable on mobile2023-04-21
- Flash only worked on some browsers and needed workarounds or a Windows VM2023-04-04
- Flash sites don't handle browser window resizing and are frustrating to use2023-03-31
- Flash sites offered no fallback, so users could only run heavy content or not use the site at all2023-03-17
- Flash navigation menus are inaccessible and don't work across platforms, so users can't reliably use them2023-01-31
- Nested animated characters with movable joints make Flash lag and crumble under load2022-12-22
- Flash runs very slowly and buggily on Android phones2022-12-22
- Must click brush mode button every time, no keyboard shortcut; hard to find hidden objects and jump to named frames2022-12-21
- Users must install an old IE and Flash plugin just to access the site2022-12-01
- Flash-style apps are unresponsive and laggy because responsiveness depends on the developer2022-11-01
- Flash sites have nightmarish navigation, slow loading, and can't be copied or bookmarked2022-09-15
- Flash sites lacked URLs, HTML, and accessibility, and were clunky to use2022-05-15
- Flash ads kept busy-looping in background tabs, melting the computer's CPU2022-03-07
- Confusing novel UI, slow pages, text not copyable, poor accessibility2022-03-07
- Slow, laggy animated pages block finding hours and menus2022-03-07
- Repeated 'plugin required' and update prompts are a hassle, even on return visits2022-03-07
- Flash animations on websites are user hostile and drive visitors away2022-03-07
- Scripting only possible by picking keywords from a dropdown menu2022-01-30
- Flash content was inaccessible and did not adapt to responsive layouts or mobile2021-12-21
- Flash made much of the web unusable on smartphones, including its menus2021-12-14
- Flash plugin runs extremely slowly on Mac, dragging down web browsing2021-09-15
- Non-tech-savvy users struggle to install the browser plugin, and even experts had trouble getting it working2021-09-15
- Flash apps were unresponsive, laggy, drained battery, and designed for mouse rather than touch2021-09-15
- Touch input was poorly translated to clicks and drags, so desktop-designed content worked badly on touchscreens2021-09-11
- Animation software is a messy pile that needs plugins to solve pain points2021-03-25