If yous are trying to use a site or service that is indicating it needs Flash on your Mac, or yous are seeing "Adobe Wink Player is blocked" messages what should you practise? In this commodity we will explain why you demand to be cautious well-nigh downloading Flash for Mac and alternative ways in which you could view Flash content now.

Why you lot shouldn't use or download Flash Player

Adobe ended support for Wink Actor on 31 Dec 2020 and blocked Wink content from running in Flash Histrion from 12 January 2021.

Adobe even goes as far as recommending that "all users immediately uninstall Flash Histrion to help protect their systems".

If you are on a site that is indicating that you need Flash Player for it to work, or you are using an app that requires Wink Player, there is a very good chance that you have come into contact with malware. Definitely do non follow any links to download Flash every bit the chances are high that you volition cease upwardly with malware on your Mac. Every bit Adobe puts it here: "Unauthorized downloads are a common source of malware and viruses."

Adobe maintains that the reason it stopped supporting Flash was because of the arrival of open standards including HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly - all of which are viable alternatives to Wink.

However, the other fundamental reason why Adobe ended back up for Wink may have been because of the abundance of faux Flash Player downloads that had become one of the most common ways for harmful code to arrive on Macs.

Over the years Flash Player had go steadily more vulnerable to online threats. Run across our list of Mac viruses, malware and security flaws and our recommendations for the all-time Mac security settings.

For example, in September 2020 a file disguised every bit Adobe Flash installer was able to make its fashion onto Macs - unfortunately information technology contained Shlayer, a malware that replaces web pages and search results with its own ads. Read: Apple accidentally approves Mac malware.

Fifty-fifty before Adobe ended support for Flash web browsers had turned their backs on it. When Apple released Safari xiv in September 2020 it no longer loaded Flash Player or ran Flash content and many other web browsers speedily followed adapt. Google Chrome started to cake Flash Player as of January 2021. Microsoft removed Flash support from Microsoft Edge and Cyberspace Explorer 11 at the cease of 2020, and has since removed information technology from Windows too. Firefox phased out Flash support with Firefox 85 in January 2021.

Flash Player download

Is it safe to use Wink Player

In a word: No.

Considering Adobe has ended Flash Player development there will be no more than security updates - so you tin can pretty much guarantee that getting any version of Flash Actor and installing it on your Mac would be a bad thought potentially opening you up to security risks.

With all this in listen you should uninstall Wink if you practice have information technology on your Mac. You certainly shouldn't be looking to install it. Nosotros explicate How to uninstall Flash Player in a split article.

Alternatives to Adobe Flash Histrion

If your reason for wanting Flash Player is to play old Flash games check out the Internet Archive. That service is preserving some Flash-based games and animations, and since these will be emulated rather than truly Flash-based, you lot'll all the same be able to play them. Take a expect at the drove on the Internet Annal.

Ruffle

Ruffle is a Wink Player emulator. It runs equally a standalone awarding. Y'all can use it on iOS equally well as Mac. Ruffle should allow you to view Flash content. If you want to run Ruffle in Safari you will demand to catechumen the extension to exist Safari compatible with Xcode 12+, only the developers explain how to do that on their site. Download it here.

Flashpoint

Developer BlueMaxima describes Flashpoint as "a webgame preservation project". In the Flashpoint Secure Actor it is possible to play web-based media "without leaving permanent changes or security holes on your reckoner," according to BlueMaxima. Download information technology here, but note that the Mac support is described as "experimental."

Flash Role player 2022

Flash Player 2022 by ModernKit.one is an emulator that will let y'all run Flash Player content. Information technology is a Firefox extension. Get It here.

For more data read:

What to do at present that Adobe is killing Flash

How to go Wink on iOS