With no official download locations and an integrated kill switch for Flash content, Adobe has formally retired Flash. Flash has been replaced on modern websites with more secure web standards.
It is highly advised against using Flash because of security flaws. If Flash is essential to you, you can use an older version in a safe environment, such as a virtual machine.
Running Flash can be substituted with other methods, such as converting Flash content into video formats or using open-source Flash player emulators like Ruffle. Projects like BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint and the Internet Archive have managed to preserve a large number of Flash games and animations.
Flash Player Support in 2021
Adobe strongly advises all users to uninstall Flash Player right away in order to help protect their systems, as the software will no longer be supported by Adobe after December 31, 2020, and will no longer be able to run Flash content in Flash Player starting on January 12, 2021.
Over time, open standards like HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have developed and become strong substitutes for Flash content. Adobe feels that by giving developers, designers, companies, and other stakeholders more than three years’ notice, they have had enough time to transition Flash content to the new standards.
Adobe will stop providing security patches and updates for Flash Player after the EOL Date. Adobe strongly advises removing Flash Player right away.
Unless you remove it from your computer, Flash Player might still be there. Since Adobe will no longer be providing security patches or updates for Flash Player after the EOL Date, uninstalling the program will help keep your system more secure.
Adobe strongly advises uninstalling Flash Player right away because the number of operating systems and browsers that support it is steadily declining. Adobe has taken down its website’s Flash Player download pages. On January 12, 2021, Adobe disabled Flash content from executing in Flash Player.
Adobe Flash Player 2021 Setup
As of December 31, 2020, Adobe will no longer support Flash Player. As of January 12, 2021, Adobe has prohibited Flash content, including images and videos, from executing in Adobe Flash Player across all browsers.
Rather, in order to use Adobe Flash content in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, you now have to choose to manually unblock it.
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on configuring various browsers to allow or prohibit Flash Player.
- For Edge, either the Always allow or Allow once option must be chosen in order to unlock Flash content.
- In Edge, toggle the Block sites from running a Flash button to Ask first to unblock Flash.
- If Firefox has blocked Adobe Flash content, you can use the following to unblock it on all websites: Choose Always Activate from the drop-down menu in Flash.