- Adobe says Animate no longer meets user needs like it used to
- Could its depreciation make way for new GenAI tools?
- There is no direct replacement – After Effects and Express will cover “portions”
Adobe has confirmed that it will discontinue Adobe Animate effective March 1, 2026, citing the rise of new (read: AI) platforms that “better meet user needs.”
A multi-stage phase-out will allow users to continue accessing and downloading their files for one year, or three years for enterprise customers, after which the service will be completely deprecated and all remaining files will be deleted.
“Animate is a product that has been around for over 25 years and has served its purpose well in creating, maintaining, and growing the animation ecosystem,” the company wrote in a separate support page, suggesting that it is time for the now-obsolete tool to retire.
“As technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms emerge,” Adobe wrote, indicating its preference for starting from scratch with newer, more suitable tools rather than trying to integrate generative AI into Animate.
The decision wasn’t a huge shock, given Animate’s absence from the last Adobe Max conference and lack of any significant updates in 2025, but users are still unhappy with the retirement plan, with some urging Adobe to open the app instead of cutting ties entirely.
However, no tool is offered as a successor. Instead, Adobe is guiding customers to its full (and expensive) Creative Cloud Pro plan, which includes After Effects and Express, to replace “parts” of Animate.
Users who still have projects in Adobe Animate that they forgot about will have a slightly different experience downloading the app, which now resides in the “Show older apps (top right, profile icon > Preferences > Apps > Show older apps)” section of the Creative Cloud desktop client.
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