At the end of 2020, Adobe will stop providing Flash Player and will stop supporting Flash.
Flash was popular software (often seen by users as a plugin) which had a huge influence in the early 2000s on videos, games and applications being able to run across devices. Many of us may remember using Flash with early streaming video services, for example, in the UK, previous versions of BBC iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4 on Demand (now called All4).
However, with the increase of open web technologies, which can do the same thing without the additional Flash software – currently only 17% of desktop Chrome users visit a site with Flash daily – usage of Flash continues to decline. Trends indicate that most sites and services are migrating to alternate open web technologies.
In 2010, Steve Jobs publicly recommended that Adobe focus on open standards and move away from Flash. It was also claimed that Flash posed security risks, was unstable and drained batteries – which Adobe disputed. With this Apple refused to support Flash, which could have begun the decline of the usage of Flash.
Open web standards such as HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly have grown over the past several years, and most can now provide the capabilities and functionalities that older plugins pioneered. This has resulted in open web technologies becoming faster and more power-efficient than Flash, they are also more secure and can be used across devices (both mobile and desktop). Using web standards, which are provided by the web browser itself, is also easier for end users as they do not need to install and manage/update plugins.
In Chrome, currently the most popular web browser globally, since version 76, Flash has been disabled by default, and users must manually re-enable it in order to see Flash based content.
Adobe will continue to support Flash through 2020, however, Adobe encourages users and partners to migrate to new open web technologies as soon as possible before its end-of-life. Adobe will continue to provide class animation and video tools, such as their Animate CC and Premiere Pro CC applications, but Flash itself will become obsolete.