This moment has been around for a long time, but finally on December 31, Adobe will shut down Flash Player. It’s the end of an era, but also the beginning of another which hopefully won’t bring as many vulnerabilities as Flash.
In this article, we’ll answer all your questions about the end of Flash and help you face a future without Flash. What should you do? Will you be able to play Flash games? Will it work for iPhone? What are your alternatives?
What about Adobe Flash?
Conclusion: Adobe killed Flash. Or, to be less dramatic, he stopped Flash Player, the application used to play Flash content.
This means two things: Adobe will no longer release updates for Flash Player and will not allow users to download it. On the other hand, Flash Player will also refuse to play Flash content.
Why is Flash stopped?
You might also be wondering how the Flash managed to survive for so long. We could have predicted a long time ago that The Flash would end at some point.
In the summer of 2017, Adobe announced that Flash Player would end in 2020 and mentioned the arrival of competing technologies such as HTML5, WebGL, Web Assembly, and Unity, which were considered perfect alternatives to Flash.
This is one way of looking at it, but to be more realistic the truth is that Flash has not been able to offer good service for mobile phones and also, little by little, it has also been phased out. desktop web browsers.
In a 2010 letter, Steve Jobs himself criticized Flash. Moreover, neither iPhones nor iPads have ever been up to the standard. In addition, Safari was the first browser to stop supporting Flash.
Can I still download Adobe Flash Player?
For now yes. You can download it from the Adobe website. But once Adobe stops offering Flash support, it will go away.
When will Flash stop working?
Soon. Adobe has already released the latest Flash Player update and will discontinue it on December 31, 2020. Flash Player will begin blocking Flash content from January 12, 2021.
Will Flash work in 2021?
Not in a relevant way. Adobe has announced that there will be methods for businesses to continue using Flash internally (it is possible to prevent Flash content from being blocked), but in terms of accessing Flash content online, that should not be possible.
You will find that Flash-based pages will no longer work the same. That said, most browsers have already ditched Flash (Chrome blocks it by default for example). Now it goes even further.
We understand that commercially viable pages (which earn a significant amount of advertising) will stop using Flash and move to a different platform, if they haven’t already. Older pages that are not updated as often may stop working and you will notice a drop in your visitor traffic.
Will your web browser still display Flash content?
Technically, it will depend on each browser, but the answer would essentially be no. Future versions of major browsers should remove Flash support. It is a long and gradual process.
Apple was the first to remove Flash support from its browser. Safari 14, which no longer supports Flash, has been available since last September.
Google Chrome will block Flash Player from January 2021. Flash support will also be removed from Chromium that month, meaning Microsoft Edge and Opera (based on Chromium) will most likely do the same.
In fact, Microsoft has already ensured that it will phase out support for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 with Flash at the end of 2020, and will go further and remove it from Windows as well.
Finally, Firefox will be phasing out support for Flash more gradually than the others. Its creators have announced that Firefox 85, due to arrive on January 26, 2021, will be the first version of Firefox without Flash.
What should you do?
Adobe recommends that you uninstall Flash Player, and it’s probably the best thing you can do. Flash Player will no longer receive updates, so potential bugs will not be fixed. It is not that it becomes dangerous overnight, but it is better to eliminate it.
Can you continue to play Flash games?
Not for long in its current form. Enjoy it while you can. However, the Internet Archive will keep Flash-based games and animations forever, and since they will be emulations and will not require Flash Player, you can play them.
It is true that everything indicates that these archived games will be prior to 2013, but something is something. If you wish, you can view the entire collection on the Internet Archive website.
Will Flash work on Mac?
You can follow the steps we outlined in our article on how to install Flash Player on your Mac, but Apple has made it clear its stance on Flash, so it will no longer be available soon.
But beyond that, the question would be why would you want to use Flash on Mac. As we said before, Flash pages will have to switch to another technology or they will die.
Can you get Flash on your iPhone?
Again, we also have an article on how to install Flash on iPhone. They never offered support by default, but there are ways to get it. Apple has more control over iOS and iPadOS than macOS, so it’s highly unlikely that you will be able to use it in the future.
Are there alternatives to Flash?
Yes, in theory the presence of viable alternatives to Flash is the reason Adobe felt the need to remove it. What will replace Flash in 2021? The most likely option is HTML5.
.
Table of Contents
