The end is officially here for Adobe Flash. As previously announced, Adobe has confirmed that it will no longer provide support for Flash Player after December 31, 2020, and it will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning on January 12, 2021.

How to Enable Adobe Flash Player on Mac The most straightforward way how to re-enable Adobe Flash Player on Mac computers is to simply uninstall it. Doing so will also ensure that you’re using the latest version and enable Adobe Flash Player on Mac across all installed web browsers and applications that use it. Using The Adobe Flash Player In 2020 & Beyond. While Adobe has dropped support for Flash, you can still download Adobe Flash Player as a standalone player for your PC and Mac. To play SWF Flash files on your PC without a browser, you’ll need to download the Flash Player projector content debugger from Adobe.

Update January 12, 2021: Adobe has officially started blocking Flash content. When you attempt to load Flash content of any kind, such as a video or game, you’ll see a new warning that directs you to the page on Adobe’s website with more details on the Flash Player end-of-life process.

Adobe Flash Player is dead, yet 10% of Macs are infected with fake Flash malware. Posted on January 31st, 2020 by Joshua Long. A recent report (covered by Ars Technica, WIRED, and others) claims that OSX/Shlayer — first discovered by Intego in February 2018 —continues to be the most prolific Mac malware in the wild, with 1 in 10 Macs infected by it. In this new menu, find and select Adobe Flash Player from the list of plug-ins, then set the When Visiting other websites option to “Ask”, then click “done” to save your changes and close.

Learn more in our detailed how to removing Flash from your Mac right here.

The writing has been on the wall for the end of Adobe Flash for years. Way back in 2017, Adobe announced its plans to drop support for the Flash plug-in by the end of 2020, and it is now making good on that promise.

As Adobe has worked to wind down Flash over the last three years, Apple’s message has been consistent. The company emphasized on its WebKit blog at the time of Adobe’s announcement that the transition from Flash began in 2010 for Apple users:

Apple users have been experiencing the web without Flash for some time. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch never supported Flash. For the Mac, the transition from Flash began in 2010 when Flash was no longer pre-installed. Today, if users install Flash, it remains off by default. Safari requires explicit approval on each website before running the Flash plugin.

But of course, the relationship between Apple and Adobe in regards to Flash had been strained for years, ever since Steve Jobs famously published his “Thoughts on Flash” piece back in 2010 to address what was a major point of criticism at the time for iPhones and iPads as computer replacements.

I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true.

In the letter, Jobs bemoaned Flash for its many flaws, including things like reliability, security, battery life, and performance. While Adobe contested Jobs’ claims at the time, Apple never did bring Flash to the iPhone and iPad, and Flash’s downfall began shortly thereafter.

Adobe has a website dedicated to providing information about the end-of-life plans for Flash, saying that users should uninstall Flash from their computers immediately to “help protect their systems.”

Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems. Some users may continue to see reminders from Adobe to uninstall Flash Player from their system.

You can find more information on the Adobe website.

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By the simple virtue of browsing the web over the years, nearly all of us have seen a variety of pop-ups asking us to download or upgrade Flash Player for Mac. Usually, there’s little explanation involved, which leaves you thinking, “Do I really need to install Adobe Flash Player on Mac?”

Adobe Flash is a proprietary software that started in the late ‘90s as a way to include advanced interactivity, gaming functionality, and video capability into your browser. By the early 2000s, Flash was supported by every major browser and seemingly ran the internet. That is until Steve Jobs himself declared a war on it.

In a press release published by Apple in 2010, Steve Jobs laid out his reasons for not integrating Adobe Flash in the Safari browser by default. His main criticisms of the platform were its closed proprietary nature, slow updates, weak security, and increasing availability of open standards that were arguably better equipped to handle browser interactivity.

For a long time, Adobe Flash security issues were the primary reason most developers discouraged people from installing the application. As you may have noticed, oftentimes Adobe Flash Player download for Mac pop-ups haunt you on the least trustworthy websites. It’s highly likely that those were hackers using Adobe Flash installers to find a way into your system.

Fortunately, in the last 10 years, the popularity of Adobe Flash has decreased significantly. By now, 95% of all websites have switched to the open HTML5 standard. This even includes all the major video companies, such as Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. In fact, the popularity of the Flash technology has declined so much now that Adobe decided to end its Flash support in 2020.

So is Adobe Flash Player safe? Generally, yes, given that you download Flash Player for Mac from Adobe’s official website. And sometimes there is no way around installing Flash as you might still need it to run that lagging 5% of the web properly. Whatever the reason, below we’ll discuss how to manage Adobe Flash safely and securely.

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How To Install Adobe Flash Player On Mac

If you absolutely need to download Adobe Flash Player for Mac, you should at the very least do it securely. Good tips to note are install Flash only when required, disable it when not in use, update it regularly to get the latest security patches, and delete it completely as soon as you can make the full switch to more modern web technologies.

Safely install Adobe Flash Player on Mac

If there would be only one takeaway from reading this article, it should be: never ever download Flash Player for Mac from unrecognized websites.

Using Macs in general is very safe. But by far the most popular way for hackers to get into your system is to persuade you to download malware that’s masking itself as a well-known program. And Flash Player for Mac tops the list, having the worst security record out of any software. Moreover, Adobe Flash is the number one reason Macs crash overall.

So when you are about to install Adobe Flash Player on Mac, you should:

1. Go to get.adobe.com/flashplayer (this is the only official Flash Player for Mac distributor)

2. Click “Download now”

3. Navigate to your Downloads folder and open the .dmg file

4. Proceed through the installation instructions

5. Restart the browser, after which Adobe Flash Player for Mac should be activated

Update Adobe Flash Player for Mac regularly

Once you have Flash Player installed, you need to remember to update it regularly (e.g. once a month) to avoid any security issues. To check whether there’s a new version of Flash available:

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click on the Flash Player and navigate to the Updates tab

3. Select Check Now or Install Now if there’s an update available

Disable Flash when not in use

When you encounter a website that doesn’t work properly without Flash, proceed to install the player from the official (very important) website as per the steps above. But for complete security, turn off Flash right after you use it and enable it only when there’s no workaround.

To disable Flash Player for Mac in Safari:

1. Go to Preferences and then Websites

2. Scroll down to Plug-ins and uncheck the Adobe Flash Player

Similarly, disabling Flash can be done in Content Settings in Chrome and Addons > Plugins in Firefox.

Completely uninstall Flash Player for Mac

There’s a lot of confusion with regards to deleting Flash Player. As we’ve seen, when you download Flash Player for Mac, it doesn’t install itself as an app, but rather integrates into your System Preferences.

Hence removing Flash Player is not as easy as just dragging it to the Trash. Adobe has a whole page devoted to the uninstallation process and makes you download a separate tool to delete Flash properly.

To remove Flash Player the Adobe way:

1. Download the uninstaller for your macOS

2. Launch it as any app and follow the instructions

3. Restart your Mac

Allow Adobe Flash Player Safe For Macbook Pro

However, due to the Flash Player’s pervasive presence on your Mac, it’s highly recommended that you use a professional third-party uninstaller like CleanMyMac X.

Get a pro uninstaller for Mac

With CleanMyMac X, unneeded software and junk will be gone from your computer in a single cleanup. An all-mighty cleaner that deserves your attention.

To uninstall Adobe Flash Player on Mac with CleanMyMac X:

1. Navigate to the Uninstaller tab

2. Select Adobe from Vendors

3. Check the box next to Flash Player and click Uninstall

Recover files lost to Flash Player

Sometimes you simply can’t prevent the malware from getting into your system. And most of the time you only realize that infiltration happened after the fact, when you discover some of your files completely gone.

Good news is you might be able to recover your files if you act quickly. As soon as you notice any files missing, install a professional Mac recovery app like Disk Drill and follow this process:

1. Launch Disk Drill app from Applications

2. Find your hard drive in the list and click Recover

3. Choose one of the recommended options, from disabling system protection to connecting another Mac, to allow Disk Drill to recover lost files

Allow Adobe Flash Player Safe For Mac Os

Finally, to stop compromised apps or files from getting into your system, use a malware protection utility in CleanMyMac X on a regular basis.

To scan your Mac for viruses with CleanMyMac X:

1. Select the Malware Removal tab

2. Click Scan

3. Delete anything suspicious that shows up in the report

Overall, there are very few reasons to download Flash Player for Mac today. Nearly all modern websites have switched to community-supported standards like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. But if you need to use Flash, make sure to download it from the official source and turn it off when not required to protect yourself from its security flaws.

In addition, make sure you’re fully protected from any worst-case scenarios by checking for malware with CleanMyMac X and recovering lost files with Disk Drill. And if you use Google Chrome, you can avoid Adobe Flash Player download for Mac altogether as it comes pre-installed in the browser.

Don’t feel like spending money on buying all the professional apps? Both CleanMyMac X and Disk Drill are available for you to try for free, along with more than 150 high-end Mac apps and utilities, through Setapp — the best platform for curated Mac apps. Adobe Flash might be on its way out, but in the meantime, you should definitely verify that you’ve been using it responsibly all this time.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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