Community Manager

Adobe Animate: End of Life and Support Timeline

Forum|Forum|24 days ago
February 2, 2026
132 replies
20335 views

UPDATE

Yesterday, we shared an update with Adobe Animate customers on the future of Animate. What we
shared did not meet our standards and caused a lot of confusion and angst. Please read this update that shares changes to our plans for Adobe Animate and its status and our commitments to ensuring that you always have access to your content.

See this post with the latest update.

Adobe Animate has been a product that has existed for over 25 years and has served its purpose well for creating, nurturing and developing the animation ecosystem. As technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms have emerged that better serve the needs of the users. Acknowledging this change, we are planning to discontinue the sale of Adobe Animate effective March 1, 2026. 
 
Existing Animate users may continue to use the application. Support for enterprise customers will continue for three years, through March 1, 2029.  For all other customers, support will continue for one year, through March 1, 2027.

Customers with a Creative Cloud Pro plan can use other Adobe apps to replace portions of Animate's capabilities. Adobe After Effects supports complex keyframe animation using the Puppet tool, while Adobe Express offers one-click animation effects that can be easily applied to photos, videos, text, shapes and other design elements.
 
We thank our Animate users and encourage you to share feedback with our teams on the Adobe Support.
  
For more information, and instructions for downloading Animate during the support period please see visit the Animate HelpX page.

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animate-user

Participant

This is so so sad - i dont know what to say. We have spent 15 years. built up a huge library of content which is suddenly not going to open.

animate-user

Participant

This is so so sad. We used Adobe animate since the year 2002-2003. We have built apps using adobe air. And have so much animation content done using adobe animate.

And suddenly just access is switched off. This is not fair. Why don’t you sell off animate or let Harmann manage it like they are managing adobe air. Or like everyone saying dont update it and just let it run for few more years. Give us atleast 5 years to switch.

Or opensource it.

I have less hopes on anyone hearing this plea. SO much of our content is built in this and we cannot even open it…

anttiu75782993

Participant

Sad to see it go away. Are you going to consider this in subscription price of Creative Cloud All Apps?

S

Sammy Red the Betta Fish

Known Participant

I forget you please don’t discontinue adobe animate how why every time I need adobe animate really bad so will you not discontinuing Adobe Animate, I need it is very important files are in there also in my USB drive so will you not discontinue Adobe Animate please? also please keep it forever please? I need also is in creative cloud pro plan will you not Adobe Animate please? also, adobe animate is 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐stars for me 😫also please do not discontinue the adobe animate I love it so please announce do not discontinue adobe animate please? do not discontinue adobe animate please it for me very important to me. do not discontinue adobe animate please? Please reconsider your decision to not discontinue this product for good.

Sammy the Red the Betta fish

D

dogwelder

Participant

Middle school digital media teacher here. Every single one of my classes is currently working on projects in Adobe Animate. This is one more example of Adobe sacrificing artistic creativity to AI. I will be pushing my district to move away from Adobe products and toward applications that center on creators.

S

Sammy Red the Betta Fish

Known Participant

I use adobe animate every day but please don’t discontinue adobe animate for good.

Sammy the Red the Betta fish

Zack With A Wack

Inspiring

Ok I need an explanation if Adobe animate is shutting down what the heck is going to happen to all my life’s saved on my usb’s I even have unfinished projects what is going to happen in my next monthly pay? I've payed this plan fair and square

daniellei4510

Community Expert

From what I’ve read, Adobe will continue to support Adobe Animate for another year, starting March 1. After that, I suspect it will still be usable (and downloadable), but without continued support. At least that’s the way it’s been with previous Adobe app shut downs, such as Adobe Muse.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

kglad

Community Expert

@daniellei4510

animate will no longer be available for install in one year, just like muse.

S

Seth5E14

Participant

As someone who has just begun to grasp and build a passion for animation, using Animate, this is such a slap in the face. As a company that specializes in “creative” software, it’s extremely evident you all couldn’t care less for the creatives that pay your subscription fees.

I’ll be canceling my entire “creative” cloud subscription as soon as I get my projects off. I’d much rather spend my money supporting software developers that actually care about the future of human made arts, not this constant “the future is AI” dribble.

sandeeD

Participant

What is the rationale behind this?? You are literally cutting off a lifeline for a lot of creatives! I have been using Macromedia flash since it started and continued with Animate throughout. When the industry itself is collapsing on all of us, I get to live off the little gigs and client base I worked so hard for, for years! I have developed a pipeline, endless libraries and tons of IP’s that I am in the process of developing. Now, you are telling us we have one year to get our shit together??! IF you don’t want to support this product, then by all means, just forget it! we don’t need updates! we don’t need any technical support! let it be but let us continue using it! You are nothing but A bunch of greedy selfish mongers who only think of profit!! I pay for the premium subscription but mainly for Animate. Once it is gone, the whole subscription is gone as well!

Charlie Bickett

Inspiring

I am incredibly disappointed by the blatant lack of care and effort on Adobe’s part over the past 5 years with Animate. The painful lack of communication, lack of updates, and decreasing stability of the software say all we need to know about your priorities as a company, and it's disgusting.

It is clear to me, now more than ever, how little you actually understand not only your users, but the software you sell them, too. Animate and Flash are cornerstones of entire industries, still used daily by many for a variety of tasks and projects. In 2025, it remains an unparalleled tool, handling many workflows exceptionally well; for many, it is the main tool in their digital toolbox. Users NEED this software to get their work done. In your own writing, you admit there is no replacement for this tool. Tell me, what person in their right mind would give up a single solid tool for multiple "alternatives" that don't even begin to cover the same use-cases??

I use this software daily for my full-time work, and there is no replacement for it, despite what your little blanket statements imply. Before deciding to entirely cannibalize a product, why not look into the people using it, how they use it, and the features and functionality they depend upon? If any customer research had actually been done, you'd realize how big a deal this truly was.

All that is to ask, why not be accountable towards your users, the ones who made your software “industry standard” in the first place? If Animate is going away, open-source it, and pay it forward to the community that helped your company become as large as it is today. Release the source code, provide documentation, and allow people to pick up what you've so needlessly tossed out.