Google Chrome to Phase Out Flash Player Support Starting Now

Google is delivering on its promise to end flash player support. The company has released an update for its popular web browser to block all Flash content. Chrome will no longer support what was one of the most popular technologies to create visual media.

Witness the fall of the mightiest. After releasing an announcement in the first days of August, Google has made its first steps to get rid of all the flash content on their web browser. The reference in multimedia content on the web fell in disgrace after new technologies like HTLM5 emerged.

Google intends to keep their promise. The company has finally greenlighted the Chrome update (it’s now on version 55) to block all Flash content. Google’s web browser will be “lighter”, and will offer reduced load times and less energy consumption.

Adobe’s multimedia platform has proven to be a headache to maintain and has exposed millions of users to multiple security vulnerabilities over the years. Both Facebook and Firefox had many troubles with Flash in the past. From now on, Flash support will be an opt-in feature. Chrome users must manually go to the settings tab to enable the technology.

Flash was released back in 1996 when Macromedia bought FutureSplash, a software that was then rebranded as Macromedia Flash. The company was acquired in 2005 by Adobe and it quickly became one of the main tools for website design.

Flash’s death warrant was first signed by Apple’s hesitation to incorporate Flash in their iPhones (the company said it would lower performance, battery life and security) and then with the launch of HTML5.

Companies like Facebook, who enabled HTML5 video player support last year, have made the jump from Flash player to HTML5’s native media reproduction. Youtube, the biggest video hosting website, ditched Flash for HTML5 by default in January 2015.

Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world, with over 1 billion active users. The software is also available for Android phones, making it a force to be reckoned with by web developers, companies, and users alike.