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

Why you shouldn't use or download Flash Role player

Adobe ended support for Flash Player on 31 December 2020 and blocked Wink content from running in Flash Player from 12 January 2021.

Adobe fifty-fifty goes as far as recommending that "all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems".

If you are on a site that is indicating that you need Flash Player for information technology to work, or y'all are using an app that requires Flash Actor, there is a very expert chance that yous accept come into contact with malware. Definitely do not follow any links to download Flash equally the chances are high that you lot will finish up with malware on your Mac. As Adobe puts it hither: "Unauthorized downloads are a common source of malware and viruses."

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

Yet, the other key reason why Adobe ended back up for Wink may have been because of the abundance of fake Flash Role player downloads that had become one of the most common ways for harmful code to arrive on Macs.

Over the years Flash Histrion had become steadily more vulnerable to online threats. Run into our list of Mac viruses, malware and security flaws and our recommendations for the best Mac security settings.

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

Fifty-fifty before Adobe ended back up for Wink web browsers had turned their backs on it. When Apple tree released Safari 14 in September 2020 it no longer loaded Flash Role player or ran Flash content and many other spider web browsers chop-chop followed suit. Google Chrome started to block Wink Player every bit of January 2021. Microsoft removed Flash support from Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 at the cease of 2020, and has since removed it from Windows besides. 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.

Because Adobe has ended Flash Player evolution there will be no more security updates - and then you can pretty much guarantee that getting any version of Wink Player and installing it on your Mac would be a bad idea potentially opening y'all up to security risks.

With all this in heed you should uninstall Flash if y'all exercise take it on your Mac. You certainly shouldn't be looking to install it. We explain How to uninstall Wink Player in a divide article.

Alternatives to Adobe Wink Actor

If your reason for wanting Flash Player is to play former Wink games check out the Cyberspace Archive. That service is preserving some Flash-based games and animations, and since these will exist emulated rather than truly Flash-based, you'll even so exist able to play them. Take a expect at the collection on the Net Archive.

Ruffle

Ruffle is a Flash Player emulator. It runs as a standalone application. You tin can use information technology on iOS equally well as Mac. Ruffle should allow you to view Flash content. If y'all desire to run Ruffle in Safari you will need to convert the extension to be Safari compatible with Xcode 12+, but the developers explain how to do that on their site. Download it hither.

Flashpoint

Programmer 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 computer," according to BlueMaxima. Download it here, merely annotation that the Mac back up is described as "experimental."

Flash Player 2022

Flash Player 2022 by ModernKit.ane is an emulator that will permit y'all run Flash Actor content. It is a Firefox extension. Go Information technology here.

For more information read:

What to do now that Adobe is killing Flash

How to go Wink on iOS