Adobe Kills Flash, Recommends All Users Uninstall It

January 1, 2021

As of 12:01am on January 1, 2021, Adobe has killed Flash. It lived for 26 years.

In the early days of the web, when low-bandwidth connections were the norm, Flash provided an easy and efficient way for developers to deliver video, advertisements, and games. But as broadband became more widely available, as smartphones began to dominate the market, and as many of Flash’s functions were incorporated natively into HTML, the need for it as an extra layer dwindled. Steve Jobs famously loathed it, and refused to allow it to run on Apple’s iPhones or iPads. Slowly but surely, others followed suit. Now, it will run nowhere.

That's not an overstatement. When Adobe says they are ending Flash’s life, they do not merely mean that they are refusing to update or support it; rather, as of January 12, 2021, the company will prevent Flash from working completely. As a result, the company recommends that users delete it from their computers, and has provided a guide to doing so here.

Notice an error?

Have we got something wrong? Please let us know and we’ll fix it right away.

Join the Discussion

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *