Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Photon Flash Browser has been tested to be compatible and to work well with most video sites. If the video does not load, here are some of the possible reasons.

a. The site has cookied you as an iPad/iPhone user
Very often, websites will cookie you to identify you as an iPad/iPhone user, and subsequently hide the Flash content. Therefore, your Flash video might not show up even when you enter Flash mode.

To solve this, follow these steps :

i) Clear Cookies
Go to Settings (Gear icon) -> Clear Cookies or Clear All

ii) Open new tab and enter Flash mode
Open a new tab, and press the Lightning Bolt button to enter Flash mode BEFORE entering the site to avoid getting cookied again.

iii) Go to your site
Now in Flash mode, navigate to the site or enter the URL in the address bar.

b. The video is not compatible with Photon v4
If this happens, try to revert to our older Photon engine by pressing Gear Icon -> Photon Engine -> v3 to see if it works better for you. Please note that v3 uses an older Flash plugin, and does not offer Full Screen support like in v4.

c. Geographical Restriction - "Video is not Available in your Country"
Many websites have geo-restrictions due to legal and licensing rights. Therefore, access is deliberately restricted by the website and this is not within our control.

If you are seeing this message while trying to access a local site within your own country (eg. UK user but unable to access BBC.co.uk), we have recently introduced a new feature to allow the web sites to better detect your location.

Please follow these steps:
1. Turn Local Access On : Press Gear Icon -> Local Access -> On
2. Clear Cookies : Press Gear Icon -> Clear Cookies
3. Open a New Tab
4. Go to the site and try watching the video again
If you are still unable to view your video, please email us from within the app, by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support.

Please describe the problem to us, send us the link to the site, as well as a screenshot of the problem if possible.

As we are providing a cloud-hosted solution, your experience largely depends on your internet connect and speed. The video should fast and smooth if you have a reasonable internet connection. If you are using Photon over a 3G network, try using it with a Wifi connection to see if it works better. For a better experience, please try our recommended settings :

a. Change Port Settings
Press Gear Icon -> Port -> set to p3 or p4

b. Change Bandwidth Settings
Press Gear Icon -> Bandwidth -> set to a lower number (where 1-lowest, 6-highest)

c. Change Mode Settings
Press Gear Icon -> Mode -> set to Video.
The "Video" mode is specially optimized for streaming of videos

If this did not work, email us by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support. Please provide us with details about your internet connection, and which city/country you are using this from.

Our latest update (v4) brings a number of new features such as True Full Screen support for Flash videos and games.

If you feel that your Flash video is not working as well in v4, please email us from within the app by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support. Please describe the problem to us, and share with us the link to the site as well as a screenshot of the problem if possible.

After emailing us, try reverting to our older Photon engine by pressing Gear Icon -> Photon Engine -> v3 to see if it works better for you. Please note that v3 uses an older Flash plugin, and does not offer Full Screen support like in v4.

a. Make sure that the mute slider/side switch (not the volume buttons) at the right side of your iPad is not set to off. Please try to slide it UP to see if you hear any sound.

If your side switch is set to Rotation lock on an iPad 2, follow these steps:

i. Double click on your home button and a bottom panel showing your background tasks will appear.
ii. Slide your finger to the right on this bottom panel and you will see a set of controls for volume.
iii. The bottom left icon should be a round button with a speaker icon.
iv. If the speaker icon has a line across, tap on it to unmute it.

b. Make sure your volume is on loud. Some websites have audio that is a little on the soft side.

c. Some website have a separate "speaker/audio" icon somewhere on the flash. Make sure it is set to maximum, and not on mute.

d. Try disconnecting from Flash session. Wait more than 10 seconds and click on lightning bolt button again to eliminate any specific server issue.

Photon Flash Browser has been tested to be compatible and to work well with most game sites that use Flash. If the game does not load, here are some of the possible reasons.

a. The site has cookied you as an iPad/iPhone user
Very often, websites will cookie you to identify you as an iPad/iPhone user, and subsequently hide the Flash content. Therefore, your Flash game might not show up even when you enter Flash mode.

To solve this, follow these steps :

i) Clear Cookies
Go to Settings (Gear icon) -> Clear Cookies or Clear All

ii) Open new tab and enter Flash mode
Open a new tab, and press the Lightning Bolt button to enter Flash mode BEFORE entering the site to avoid getting cookied again.

iii) Go to your site
Now in Flash mode, navigate to the site or enter the URL in the address bar.

b. The game is not compatible with Photon v4
If this happens, try to revert to our older Photon engine by pressing Gear Icon -> Photon Engine -> v3 to see if it works better for you. Please note that v3 uses an older Flash plugin, and does not offer Full Screen support like in v4.

c. Geographical Restriction - "Game is not Available in your Country"
Many websites have geo-restrictions due to legal and licensing rights. Therefore, access is deliberately restricted by the website and this is not within our control.

If you are seeing this message while trying to access a local site within your own country (eg. UK user but unable to access BBC.co.uk), we have recently introduced a new feature to allow the web sites to better detect your location.

Please follow these steps:
1. Turn Local Access On : Press Gear Icon -> Local Access -> On
2. Clear Cookies : Press Gear Icon -> Clear Cookies
3. Open a New Tab
4. Go to the site and try playing the game again
If you are still unable to play your game, please email us from within the app, by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support.

Please describe the problem to us, send us the link to the site, as well as a screenshot of the problem if possible.

As we are providing a cloud-hosted solution, your experience largely depends on your internet connect and speed. The video should fast and smooth if you have a reasonable internet connection. If you are using Photon over a 3G network, try using it with a Wifi connection to see if it works better. For a better experience, please try our recommended settings :

1. Gear Icon -> Port -> set to p3 or p4

2. Gear Icon -> Bandwidth -> set to a lower number (where 1-lowest, 6-highest)

3. Gear Icon -> Mode -> set to Video or Game
"Video" - optimized for image quality
"Game" - optimized for interactivity and response (best for games like Bejewelled Blitz and Candy Crush Saga)

If this did not work, email us by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support. Please provide us with details about your internet connection, and which city/country you are using this from.

Our latest update (v4) brings a number of new features such as True Full Screen support for Flash videos and games.

If you feel that your Flash game is not working as well in v4, please email us from within the app by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support. Please describe the problem to us, and share with us the link to the site as well as a screenshot of the problem if possible.

After emailing us, try reverting to our older Photon engine by pressing Gear Icon -> Photon Engine -> v3 to see if it works better for you. Please note that v3 uses an older Flash plugin, and does not offer Full Screen support like in v4.

There are 3 different touch controls in Flash mode - Touch, Cursor, and Grab/Drag. Select by cycling through the pointer icon for iPhone (bottom right of the screen), or selecting it directly for iPad (top toolbar).

Touch mode (Finger icon) - the basic touch mode which allows you to touch, scroll and zoom like you always do on a iPad, iPhone or iPod. You can also hold for more than 1.5 seconds after a touch to start dragging.

Cursor mode (Cursor/Pointer Icon)- the mouse pointer mode allows you to be more precise in your click. With this mode, you have a cursor that you can move around on the screen, point on objects and tap to click.

Grab/Drag mode (Grabbing hand Icon) - the drag mode is the same as clicking down and dragging an object. You can use this to also swap objects in Bejeweled Blitz and Candy Crunch Saga by swiping across 2 objects, or scroll around game maps in game such as Forge of Empires, Farmville, or Battle Pirates.

With the Grab/Drag mode (Grabbing hand Icon), you can swap objects easily in Bejeweled and Candy Crunch simply by swiping across 2 objects.

This mode can also be used to scroll around game maps in games such as Forge of Empires, Farmville, and Battle Pirates.

Gamepad is currently only supported on Photon for iPad.

To bring up the on-screen gamepad, go to Gear Icon -> Game Controls.

a. Choosing "All" will give you both a left and right pad controls.
b. Choosing "L" or "R" will result in either the left or right gamepad.

c. After selecting, you will now be given options to map the gamepad to the buttons you need.

To use this game pad as arrow keys for direction, simply press "Use Arrow Keys".

Photon Flash Browser has been tested to be compatible and to work well with most Educational e-Learning sites. If the Flash components do not load, here are some of the possible reasons.

a. The site has cookied you as an iPad/iPhone user
Very often, websites will cookie you to identify you as an iPad/iPhone user, and subsequently hide the Flash content. Therefore, your Flash content might not show up even when you enter Flash mode.

To solve this, follow these steps :

i. Clear Cookies
Go to Settings (Gear icon) -> Clear Cookies or Clear All

ii. Open new tab and enter Flash mode
Open a new tab, and press the Lightning Bolt button to enter Flash mode BEFORE entering the site to avoid getting cookied again.

iii. Go to your site
Now in Flash mode, navigate to the site or enter the URL in the address bar.

b. The Flash components are not compatible with Photon v4
If this happens, try to revert to our older Photon engine by pressing Gear Icon -> Photon Engine -> v3 to see if it works better for you. Please note that v3 uses an older Flash plugin, and does not offer Full Screen support like in v4.

c. The site requires plugins that we do not support.
Many e-learning websites uses additional plugins such as Adobe Reader and Java.

Unfortunately, we do not support Java, Silverlight and other plugins at the moment.

However, we might include these features in future updates for Photon.
If you are still unable to view the Flash components in your e-Learning site, please email us from within the app, by pressing Gear Icon -> Help & Support.

Please describe the problem to us, send us the link to the site, as well as a screenshot of the problem if possible.

a. Photon currently does not support any blocking or filtering of websites.

However, if you are looking to use Photon solely for educational purposes, please check out our latest iPad release - Photon for Kids/Education.

In this educational edition of Photon on the iPad, where we we currently block content that might be offensive/undesirable to children, and allow a number of safe, educational and kids websites. See it at this link.
b. Alternatively, you can hide Photon complete to prevent your children from using it.
Photon is rated as 17+ app due its nature as a web browser. Apple requires all web browsers to be rated 17+ as it can be used to potenentially access content that might not be appropriate for minors.

You can hide Photon by turning on restriction on the iPhone/iPad, go to Settings -> General -> Restriction -> On, followed by Allowed Content -> App -> and uncheck 17+.

Our latest iPad release - Photon for Kids/Education, is specially designed for schools and educational institutions. See it at this link.

This is the educational edition of Photon on the iPad, where we currently block content that might be offensive/undesirable to children and allow a number of safe, educational and kids websites.

Schools and educational institutions will also be able to manage a blacklist / whitelist of websites. For more information, please email us at support@appsverse.com with "Interest in Photon Edu for our school" in the subject head for more details.