Release Notes | Flash Player® 32 AIR® 32

Welcome to the Flash Player and AIR 32 release notes!

December 8, 2020

Today marks the final scheduled release of Flash Player for all regions outside of Mainland China.  We want to take a moment to thank all of our customers and developers who have used and created amazing Flash Player content over the last two decades.  We are proud that Flash had a crucial role in evolving web content across animation, interactivity, audio, and video.  We are excited to help lead the next era of digital experiences.

Adobe will no longer support Flash Player after December 31 2020, and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12 2021; Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems.  

Some users may continue to see reminders from Adobe to uninstall Flash Player from their system.  Please see our Flash Player EOL General Information page for more details and links to instructions for those that would like to uninstall Flash Player manually.

November 10, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

October 13, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes. 

Starting this month, Adobe will begin periodically prompting users to uninstall Flash Player.  Uninstalling Flash Player is optional, but Adobe recommends removing unused components promptly to keep our customers and their systems more secure.   Please be aware that this uninstall will remove all copies of Flash Player installed and updated by Adobe, it does not remove the Flash Player provided by Google Chrome or Microsoft Windows 8 and 10 for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer.  IT Administrators can suppress these uninstall prompts by setting preferences available in the Flash Player configuration files. 

September 8, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

August 11, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

July 14, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

June 9, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

May 12, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

April 14, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

March 11, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

February 11, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

January 21, 2020

In today's release, we've updated Flash Player with a minor update to Adobe's DRM system.

January 14, 2020

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

December 10, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

November 13, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

October 9, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

September 10, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

August 13, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

July 9, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

June 11, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

May 14, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

April 25, 2019

In today's release, we've updated the AIR shared runtime with an important bug fix for video playback.  Customers that rely on the shared runtime will automatically be prompted to update.

April 9, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player and AIR with important bug and security fixes.

March 12, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

February 12, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug and security fixes.

January 8, 2019

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes.

December 11, 2018

In today's scheduled release, we've updated the AIR SDK and Runtime with bug fixes and new functionality.

December 5, 2018

In today's release, we've updated Flash Player 32 with critical bug fixes and security updates.  AIR 32 will be released on December 11th.

How to update Flash Player

Current Flash Player customers who have enrolled in the "Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended)" update mechanism will be automatically updated to the latest version of Flash Player within 24 hours after release.

Users who have selected "Notify me to install updates" will receive an update notification dialog within 7 days from release date. Please note that Windows users will need to restart their system or log out and in to activate the update notification dialog.

The latest version of Flash Player can always be downloaded and installed by simply visiting https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

Customers using Google Chrome or Windows 8.x/10 Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge will receive updates through the Google and Microsoft update mechanisms.

How to contact us

We hope you enjoy this release. If you encounter any problems, please let us know by posting issues to our public bug database. For installation or usage help, please visit our community for assistance.

Adobe Bug Database - https://tracker.adobe.com/
Flash Player Community - http://community.adobe.com/t5/flash-player/bd-p/flash-player?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all
AIR Community - http://community.adobe.com/t5/air/bd-p/air?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all

Flash Player End of Life Information
As previously announced in July 2017, Adobe will stop updating and distributing Flash Player after December 31, 2020.  We made this announcement in collaboration with several of our technology partners – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla.  Adobe will continue issuing regular Flash Player security patches while maintaining operating system and browser compatibility through the end of 2020.  For general information on the Adobe Flash Player EOL, please see our FAQ.  More information on Flash support options for enterprise customers is available here.

Chongqing Zhongcheng Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongcheng), an Internet company, is the official distribution partner for Adobe Flash Player in mainland China only.  Adobe will support Zhongcheng’s exclusive distribution and maintenance of Flash Player within mainland China beyond 2020 for regional developers, enterprises, and end users running Flash-enabled content in applicable operating system environments or browsers. For more information, contact Zhongcheng.

Flash Player Uninstall Prompts

Flash Player is installed on hundreds of millions of systems worldwide.  While many browsers will stop loading Flash Player at the end of 2020, Adobe will be taking steps to help secure users' systems by prompting them to uninstall the Flash Player plugin starting in October 2020.  Please note that Flash Player’s ability to run is dependent on browser support so please check with the appropriate browser vendor for more details.  

Uninstalling Flash Player is optional, but Adobe recommends removing unused components promptly to keep our customers and their systems more secure.  IT Administrators can suppress these uninstall prompts by setting preferences available in the Flash Player configuration files.

Adobe AIR News
Exciting news for Adobe AIR developers.  Please see our announcement on the future of Adobe AIR.

Fixed Issues

December 8,2020

• Assorted functional fixes

November 10, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes
  

October 13, 2020

• Assorted security and functional fixes

September 8, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes
   

August 11, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes

July 14, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes

June 9, 2020

• Assorted security and functional fixes

May 12, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes

April 14, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes

March 11, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes

February 11, 2020

• Assorted security and functional fixes

January 21, 2020

• Minor update to refresh a content security certificate used in Adobe's DRM system

January 14, 2020

• Assorted functional fixes

December 10, 2019

• Assorted functional fixes

November 13, 2019

• Assorted functional fixes

October 9, 2019

• Assorted functional fixes

September 10, 2019

• Added macOS Notarization support
• Assorted functional and security fixes

August 13, 2019

Flash Player

• Assorted functional fixes

July 9, 2019

Flash Player

• Assorted functional fixes

June 11, 2019

Flash Player

• Assorted security and functional fixes

May 14, 2019

Flash Player

• Internet explorer quits unexpectedly on opening some websites (FP-4199000)
• Win10 - Increase in load times from < 1 to > 30 seconds for AX control in .NET Application (FP-4198953)

April 14, 2019

AIR

• Reverted video pipeline changes in the shared runtime that went in too soon.

April 9, 2019

Flash Player

• Assorted security and functional fixes

AIR

• Swift 4.2 dylibs are getting incorrectly signed (AIR-4198777)
• iOS app crashes if a NetStream is referenced by a class variable when app is brought to foreground (AIR-4198784)
• Add launch images for 2018 models of iPad Pro 11" and 12.9" (AIR-4198773)
• SecureSocket can't connect when hostname only matches Subject Alternative Names (AIR-4198762)
• TouchEvent systems stops sending TOUCH_END events to air app on iPhoneX (AIR-4198768)
• iOS AIR Application produces error with new LD upgrade (FLASH-4190918)
• iOS SDK version warning on submitting air apps to app store (AIR-4198787)

March 12, 2019

Flash Player

• Assorted security and functional fixes

February 12, 2019

Flash Player

• Assorted security and functional fixes

January 8, 2019

Flash Player

• Flash Memory usage increased with latest version leading to application performance issues (FP-4198948)

December 11, 2018

• AIRClient (AIR Android) fails to make rtmps connection with the server if TLS 1.0 is disabled on the server (FLASH-4190642)
• Launch Image name mapping for iPhone XS and iPhone XR (FLASH-4190711)
• Installing on latest iOS devices through ADT fails (XS, XS max) (AIR-4198748)
• Sound: Custom sampling with shared sound source creates crackling artifacts (AIR-4198737)
• Multi-touch in Win10 experiencing performance hit (FLASH-4085538)
• [iOS 12]Keyboard isn't coming at its default position when packed using platformsdk option (FLASH-4190759)
• AIR application quits unexpectedly when playing video loops for many hours (FLASH-4190569)
• App quits unexpectedly when Scout is connected (AIR-4198756)
  

December 5, 2018

Flash Player

• Assorted security and functional fixes

New Features

iOS SDK Upgrade

AIR Runtime is now built with iOS 12.1 SDK, which enables AIR developers to use ANEs built with iOS 12.1 APIs without using the –platformSDK switch while packaging with ADT.

To use existing ANEs built with earlier iOS version:

1. Apple has removed support for libstdc++ from Xcode10 (iOS12). All the native static libraries used in ANE, which are built with libstdc++ will not work with the latest AIR SDK. It will throw the below error. The static library has to be rebuilt with Xcode 10 and repackaged.
   Error : ld: library not found for -lstdc++
   ld: library not found for -lstdc++
   Compilation failed while executing : ld64
   
2. We have updated some of the symbols in the stub files generated, which are in accordance with Apple’s changes. If you see below error during packaging ipa with ANE, repackage the ANE with the latest AIR SDK.
   Error: Undefined symbols for architecture armv7/arm64
   If we are using -platformsdk, we need to replace the ld from /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin to /AIRSDK/lib/aot/bin/ld64/ld64 and rename it to ld64.

While using -platformsdk, developers must specify the iphoneOS version number 12.0 in the path to avoid any unintended behavior. For example, /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS12.0.sdk

Geolocation Enhancement in iOS Applications

Until AIR SDK 31, when an application runs in the background, access to geolocation services is paused after some time. This is as designed behavior implemented by Apple. When the services are paused it is the user’s responsibility to enable the geolocation services by re-launching the application.

Native iOS application developers can set the flag pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically as false which helps in keeping navigation services running in the background. Since continuous running can cause battery drain, native iOS flag desiredAccuracy permits the developer to specify the accuracy of the geolocation data required by the app.

Starting AIR SDK 32, two new properties have been defined on the Geolocation object to allow users to replicate the native iOS behavior. The properties are:

pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically: This would allow application developers to choose if they want to keep the geolocation services active when the application is in the background. The value of this property is set to true by default. Setting it to false would keep the geolocation services running in the background. Setting it to true will replicate default native iOS behavior of pausing the location services after some period of inactivity.

desiredAccuracy: This property allows application developers to specify the accuracy of the geolocation data to prevent drainage of battery with the long continuous usage of geolocation services. It can be set to:

• Geolocation.LOCATION_ACCURACY_BEST_FOR_NAVIGATION: for the highest possible accuracy that uses additional sensor data to facilitate navigation apps.

• Geolocation.LOCATION_ACCURACY_BEST: for the best level of accuracy available.

• Geolocation.LOCATION_ACCURACY_NEAREST_TEN_METERS: for the accuracy of within ten meters of the desired target.

• Geolocation.LOCATION_ACCURACY_HUNDRED_METERS: for the accuracy of within one hundred meters of the desired target.

• Geolocation.LOCATION_ACCURACY_KILOMETER: for accuracy to the nearest kilometer.

• Geolocation.LOCATION_ACCURACY_THREE_KILOMETERS: for accuracy to the nearest three kilometers.

The properties can only be set after geolocation permission is requested. Also, the following key needs to be set in the application XML to allow location access to the application when running in the background.

<key>UIBackgroundModes</key>

<array>

<string>location</string>

</array>

The properties are introduced for iOS, Android remains unaffected by this change.

Launch images for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR

With AIR SDK version 32, support of launch images for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR is added. Refer the table below for launch image names and dimensions:

Addition of property cpuAddressSize in Capabilities class

Starting AIR and Flash Player version 32, a new property cpuAddressSize is added to flash.system.Capabilities class. The cpuAddressSize specifies whether the Flash Player instance or an AIR application running on the system is 32-bit or 64-bit. This read only property returns value 32 or 64 for 32-bit and 64 for 64-bit applications respectively.

Released Versions

Known Issues

• Apps currently not compatible with the Android Q beta (AIR-4198814)

Security Enhancements

Authoring Guidelines

Authoring for Flash Player 32

To use the new Flash Player, you will need to target SWF version 43 by passing "- swf -version=43" as an extra compiler argument to the ASC 2.0 compiler.  Detailed directions are below.

• Download the new playerglobal .swc for Flash Player 32
• Download and install Flash Builder 4.7 from Creative Cloud: https://creative.adobe.com/products/flash-builder
• Backup the existing AIR SDK if you need to restore it later then replace the bundled AIR SDK with the AIR 32 SDK.  To do this, unzip the AIR 32 SDK to this location:
  • MacOS: /Applications/Adobe Flash Builder 4.7/eclipse/plugins/com.adobe.flash.compiler_4.7.0.348297/AIRSDK
  • Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4.7 (64Bit)\eclipse\plugins\com.adobe.flash.compiler_4.7.0.349722\AIRSDK\
• In Flash Builder, create a new project: File -> New -> project.
• Open the project Properties panel (right-click and chose 'Properties'). 
• Select ActionScriptCompiler from the list on the left.
• Add "-swf-version=43" to the 'Additional compiler arguments' field.
  • This ensures the outputted SWF targets SWF version 43.  If you compile on the command-line and not in Flash Builder, you need to add the same compiler argument.
• Ensure you have installed the new Flash Player 32 build in your browser.

Authoring for AIR 32 Update to the AIR 32 namespace

You must update your application descriptor file to the 32  namespace in order to access the new AIR 32 APIs and behavior. If your application does not require the new AIR 32 APIs and behavior, you are not required to update the namespace. However, we recommend all users start using the AIR 32 namespace even if you are not yet taking advantage of the new 32 capabilities. To update the namespace, change the xmlns attribute in your application descriptor to: <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/32.0">

Reporting a Bug

Found a bug? Please submit a bug to the Flash Player and Adobe AIR bug database.

Flash Player and AIR may leverage your graphics hardware to decode and play H.264 video. There may be video issues that can only be reproduced with your particular graphics hardware and driver. When reporting an issue involving video, it is essential to note your graphics hardware and driver, along with your operating system and browser (when using Flash Player), so that we can reproduce and investigate issues. Please be sure to include this information as described in Instructions for Reporting Video Playback Issues. Note: Due to the high volume of email we receive, we are unable to respond to every request.

Thank you for using Adobe® Flash Player® and AIR® and for taking the time to send us your feedback!

System Requirements

For the latest Flash Player system requirements please review the document here

For the latest AIR system requirements please review the document here 

Runtime Version(s) History