Adobe Flash disabled in latest Safari Technology Preview

AppleInsider · January 23, 2020 2:56AM

Presaging what will be the final nail in the coffin for Adobe Flash on Safari, Apple on Wednesday disabled support for the much-maligned multimedia plug-in in the latest version of Safari Technology Preview.

Apple quietly announced the imminent demise of Flash on Safari in a set of release notes accompanying Safari Technology Preview 99. Along with a number of enhancements to WebKit code and assets is mention of a single deprecation under "Legacy Plug-Ins," which simply states, "Removed support for Adobe Flash."

CNET was first to note the change on Wednesday.

Introduced as a developer-focused experimental browser in 2016, Safari Technology Preview provides an early look at upcoming Web technologies that will appear -- or in the case of Flash, won't appear -- in both iOS and macOS. The browser is in many ways a standalone beta version of Safari.

The death of Flash is a long time coming. A once-pervasive standard for distributing rich media over the internet, the asset-hungry, proprietary software is now viewed as out-of-date and unsuitable for a mobile-first world. Late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs said as much some 10 years ago in a widely circulated letter appropriately titled "Thoughts on Flash."

Following increased competition and pushback from the likes of Apple, Google and other browser makers, Adobe in 2017 said it would pull the plug on Flash in 2020. Now, with five words, Apple is signaling that time is nigh for Safari.

For iOS device users, the end of Flash is a non-issue as the platform never integrated the web standard. Safari on Mac has shipped with Flash disabled since macOS Sierra, leaving users to manually activate the software on a case-by-case basis.

jd_in_sb · January 23, 2020 3:14AM

Flash had its day. It was revolutionary but ultimately just an interim step to HTML5. Now if we could just get rid of JavaScript...

mplsp · January 23, 2020 3:28AM

I agree that Flash should die, but there are unfortunately there are still some sites that use it. We use an outside vendor at work with such a site; while they do have a non-Flash version, it is technically limited and is missing some critical features. Before people say ‘they need to get with the times’ or ‘you should just switch vendors,’ they need to realize that while we have told them about the issues, we do not control them, and ‘just switching vendors’ is not so easy.

Also, Steve Jobs was right about Flash!

applesauce007 · January 23, 2020 3:33AM

Thank God.
I wish everyone would stop using flash already.

soli · January 23, 2020 5:11AM

Remember when there was Adobe Flash splash pages on websites?

MplsP said:

I agree that Flash should die, but there are unfortunately there are still some sites that use it. We use an outside vendor at work with such a site; while they do have a non-Flash version, it is technically limited and is missing some critical features. Before people say ‘they need to get with the times’ or ‘you should just switch vendors,’ they need to realize that while we have told them about the issues, we do not control them, and ‘just switching vendors’ is not so easy.

Also, Steve Jobs was right about Flash!

Where are they using Adobe Flash that couldn't be done with HTML5 and JS? Even Apple used Adobe Flash in MobileMe.

edited January 2020

chasm · January 23, 2020 7:06AM

MplsP said:

I agree that Flash should die, but there are unfortunately there are still some sites that use it. We use an outside vendor at work with such a site; while they do have a non-Flash version, it is technically limited and is missing some critical features.

Have you pointed out to them that this means nobody on mobile devices (either platform) can see the site properly?

gordon1420 · January 23, 2020 8:47AM

The web interface for the Arlo line of security cameras as of now still requires Flash in order to function. This is the very last place I have any use for it.

bageljoey · January 23, 2020 10:48AM

chasm said:

MplsP said:

I agree that Flash should die, but there are unfortunately there are still some sites that use it. We use an outside vendor at work with such a site; while they do have a non-Flash version, it is technically limited and is missing some critical features.

Have you pointed out to them that this means nobody on mobile devices (either platform) can see the site properly?

I do the yearbook for the school where I teach. The yearbook website (Jostens) needs flash to run. I don’t mind clicking to allow it, but not being able to use my Mac to lay out the yearbook would be a major pain.

I’m hoping that Jostens is ready to go with a new (non-flash) version, but if not...

esquirecats · January 23, 2020 12:05PM

MplsP said:

I agree that Flash should die, but there are unfortunately there are still some sites that use it. We use an outside vendor at work with such a site; while they do have a non-Flash version, it is technically limited and is missing some critical features. Before people say ‘they need to get with the times’ or ‘you should just switch vendors,’ they need to realize that while we have told them about the issues, we do not control them, and ‘just switching vendors’ is not so easy.

Also, Steve Jobs was right about Flash!

It's a case of companies persisting because there was still a way of using it. I fully expect that your vendor will require one of the remaining browsers to use their site. (That said Adobe themselves are discontinuing Flash this year, so something will have to change.)

macxpress · January 23, 2020 12:41PM

bageljoey said:

chasm said:

MplsP said:

I agree that Flash should die, but there are unfortunately there are still some sites that use it. We use an outside vendor at work with such a site; while they do have a non-Flash version, it is technically limited and is missing some critical features.

Have you pointed out to them that this means nobody on mobile devices (either platform) can see the site properly?

I do the yearbook for the school where I teach. The yearbook website (Jostens) needs flash to run. I don’t mind clicking to allow it, but not being able to use my Mac to lay out the yearbook would be a major pain.
I’m hoping that Jostens is ready to go with a new (non-flash) version, but if not...

You could just not use Jostons....its not like its the only choice out there. The school I used to work in switched away from Jostons because they didn't like it.

davidw · January 23, 2020 1:28PM

jd_in_sb said:

Flash had its day. It was revolutionary but ultimately just an interim step to HTML5. Now if we could just get rid of JavaScript...

Nooooooooooooooo!

With Safari and the Developer menu on the top menu bar, javascript can be easily disabled with a just a few clicks ( or a user programed key stroke). This makes it easy to view a lot of websites, without loading any of their ads, pop ups and videos. It works better than any ad blockers and even gets rid of those pop ups that prevents you from reading the articles, unless you disable your ad blockers or whitelist the site.

Of course javascript can not be disabled for all the sites I visit but many of the news sites where I just want to read an article to two, without all their annoying pop ups and ads, just disabling javascript is the easiest way to get rid of those ads. Plus doing so, my old MacBook with a core2duo feels like it has an i7 chip in it and without my fan going into high speed on certain sites. It's the same with my 2nd generation iPad. I can easily disable javascript in the Safari setting and the iPad feels like one of the newer ones, when visiting websites that mainly uses javascript for ads.

Now this is from a consumer using the internet point of view and not that of a developer or software engineer, where there might be other issues with javascript.

edited January 2020

bageljoey · January 23, 2020 1:53PM

macxpress said:

You could just not use Jostons....its not like its the only choice out there. The school I used to work in switched away from Jostons because they didn't like it.

There are 17 schools in my district all on the same contract. I do not have a choice...

neilm · January 23, 2020 2:04PM

Flash — just take it out behind the barn and shoot it!

For anyone still needing Flash to access legacy web sites, use Google's Chrome browser instead of Safari. It has Flash baked in, and updates itself in a secure fashion so that you don't have to figure out whether a Flash update alert is genuine or malware. (Our payroll processor still uses Flash...yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that?)

edited January 2020

gatorguy · January 23, 2020 2:07PM

neilm said:

Flash — just take it out behind the barn and shoot it!

For anyone still needing to use Flash to access legacy web sites, use Google's Chrome browser. It has Flash baked in, and updates itself in a secure fashion so that you don't have to figure out whether a Flash update alert is genuine or malware. (Our payroll processor still uses Flash...yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that?)

Only until the end of this year Neil. They began deprecating it a few years ago and 2020 puts an end to it. With the western world's major browser dropping all support Adobe themselves have also announced Flash will come to a development end this year too.

edited January 2020

taugust04_ai · January 23, 2020 2:12PM

Yes, as much of an inconvenience getting rid of Flash might be, it’s needed. And the only way to fully get rid of it is to have browser vendors disable the support of their usage.

spice-boy · January 23, 2020 2:46PM

Funny I thought I attended Flash's funeral a few years ago, guess it must have been another bad Adobe software.

dysamoria · January 23, 2020 3:06PM

I thought this had already happened years ago. What did I miss that it’s still been available to use as a web plugin?

As for Adobe ending support for it themselves, that just means the web plugin, right? They’re not actually abandoning the animation tool are they?

strangedays · January 23, 2020 3:19PM

Soli said:

Remember when there was Adobe Flash splash pages on websites?

Or Flash-based top nav menus?

neilm · January 23, 2020 4:37PM

gatorguy said:

neilm said:

Flash — just take it out behind the barn and shoot it!

For anyone still needing to use Flash to access legacy web sites, use Google's Chrome browser. It has Flash baked in, and updates itself in a secure fashion so that you don't have to figure out whether a Flash update alert is genuine or malware. (Our payroll processor still uses Flash...yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that?)

Only until the end of this year Neil. They began deprecating it a few years ago and 2020 puts an end to it. With the western world's major browser dropping all support Adobe themselves have also announced Flash will come to a development end this year too.

Oh I'm well aware of that.

The problem is for legacy users until October 2020 when Flash support comes to an end. But don't imagine for a minute that the remaining Flash sites, or games, or whatevers, will suddenly, err, flash out of existence. There's nothing to stop them from continuing to exist.

anotherbrick · January 23, 2020 6:43PM

There are sports streaming sites that I know recently and probably still require Flash to show video clips. This may not technically be Apple’s fault that a website quits working but they are going to be blamed anyway.

tumantorak · January 23, 2020 7:34PM

At every level, most businesses won't spend money if they don't immediately need to. That's how we ended up in this situation in a nutshell. The thinner the profit margins are, the more likely a company is to put off that decision and costs associated with retiring Flash-dependent processes. As long as the browsers supported Flash, even in increasingly inconvenient, annoying ways, that was an expense that could be left on the back burner. As an IT person, I'm concerned that some of the systems we use have management tools that are accessible only through a Flash webpage. We can (and do) pressure those companies to provide an HTML5 or some other non-Flash alternative. Nothing purchased in the past few years has Flash dependency. Unfortunately there are some systems, processes, production workflows, apps, etc., that are dependent on something running 24/7 that requires Flash to manage it. Sometimes a company or department ends up inheriting the Flash mess from an acquisition or circumstance beyond their control. It's not just commerce sites, although that is the way most people will experience or be aware of the issue. If it involves the spending of money, many (most?) businesses will put off the cost of switching from a dead technology until they absolutely must.

edited January 2020

Adobe Flash disabled in latest Safari Technology Preview

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