Then Safari popped a banner across the top: “Flash Plug-in: Significantly slowed down your computer.”

Elara ran the old Macintosh Users Group forum from a cozy cabin overlooking a misty valley. She was the go-to person for “the old ways.” One evening, a frantic email arrived from a user named Sam.

“First, Sam, understand that Apple and Adobe had a falling out long ago. Flash is slow, insecure, and drains batteries. Safari hides Flash like a secret trapdoor. Open Safari, go to Safari > Preferences (or Settings in newer macOS).”

Elara smiled. “Good. And now, Sam, forget this knowledge. The future is HTML5. Let the Flash era rest.” While the technical steps above (Safari > Preferences > Websites > Plug-ins) used to work up until 2020, Adobe Flash Player was officially discontinued and blocked by all browsers on December 31, 2020.

But for a nostalgic trip? The story of how we used to allow Flash is a good one to tell by the fire.

Sam’s cursor hovered. There it was: Adobe Flash Player . It was set to for every website.

The fans on Sam’s MacBook whirred like a jet engine. The battery icon dropped 5%. And a warning from macOS appeared: “Flash Player contains security vulnerabilities.”

Sam clicked the portfolio link. A pop-up appeared: “Adobe Flash Player is out of date.” Sam sighed. Elara had warned him: even if Safari allowed it, you still needed the plug-in itself.