Adobe Animate Discontinuation – Important Notice for Schools & IT Teams

[Bionic]

Adobe has officially announced that Adobe Animate will be discontinued from 1 March 2026. This will have a significant impact on schools and any organisation still relying on Animate for curriculum delivery, creative work, or legacy Flash animation workflows.

 

According to Adobe’s End‑of‑Life FAQ, Animate will no longer be sold after 1 March 2026, and continued access depends on your licence type:

• Non‑enterprise customers: Access, downloads, and technical support end 1 March 2027.
• Enterprise customers: Access and support continue until 1 March 2029.
  [helpx.adobe.com]

 

Existing installations will continue to run, but Adobe warns that access to Animate files and project data will end when support ends, and the software will not be downloadable after that point.
[helpx.adobe.com]

 

Tech press have also confirmed the shutdown, noting the absence of a full replacement and widespread concern within the animation and education community.

[3s-gtech]

The Welsh curriculum kind of specifies it! Oh well, three more years.

[paulkerton]

So which are schools in this example? Non-enterprise or Enterprise?
Logically as we have access to the Adobe Admin Console, and can use federation etc, we're Enterprise yeah?

Edited February 3 by paulkerton

[Bionic]

Adobe have changed their mind after community backlash!

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/kb/maintenance-mode.html

 

[3s-gtech]

They backtracked so fast their arseholes got frostbite.

Good on them though, for listening.

[synaesthesia]

Makes a change, their subscription has changed so much recently that my opinion on Creative Cloud has gone from "bad value for money" to "damn near scandal".

Changing things like Acrobat to the "Pro" level is the biggest bugbear.

And surely no curriculum demands use of any specific package?

[3s-gtech]

You'd think. There was a hell of a kick-off when this spec launched, and most schools in the county at that time didn't have hardware that would run the specified software (Premiere Pro!) They eventually softened to Premiere Rush and we all spent a chunk on updating our IT suites. Animate slipped into the workflow over time.

[synaesthesia]

Blimey! I thought (naively, clearly!) schemes of work usually suggested a few packages. 

Someone at the LEA probably picking up commission from Adobe

 

[3s-gtech]

Welsh Government/Hwb! *not suggesting dodginess*