text:
Adobe Flash Player

Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is a discontinued computer program for viewing multimedia content, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the Adobe Flash platform. It can run from a web browser as a browser plug-in or independently on supported devices. Originally created by FutureWave under the name FutureSplash Player, it was renamed to Macromedia Flash Player after Macromedia acquired FutureWave in 1996. After Adobe aquired Macromedia in 2005, it was developed and distributed by Adobe as Adobe Flash Player. It is currently developed and distributed by Zhongcheng for users in China, and by Harman International for enterprise users outside of China, in collaboration with Adobe.

Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created using Adobe Flash Professional, Adobe Flash Builder, or third-party tools such as FlashDevelop. Flash Player supports video and raster graphics; vector graphics; 3D graphics; embedded audio; and an object-oriented scripting language called ActionScript, which is based on ECMAScript (similar to JavaScript). Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge Legacy since Windows 8, along with Google Chrome on all versions of Windows, came bundled with a sandboxed Adobe Flash Player plug-in.

Flash Player once had a large user base, and was required to run many web games, animations, and graphical user interface (GUI) elements embedded in web pages. Adobe stated in 2013 that more than 400 million, out of over 1 billion connected desktops, updated to new versions of Flash Player within six weeks of release. However, Flash Player became increasingly criticized for poor performance, consumption of battery on mobile devices, the number of security vulnerabilities that had been discovered in the software, and its nature as a closed platform controlled by Adobe. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was highly critical of Flash Player, having published an open letter criticising the platform and detailing Apple's reasoning for not supporting Flash on its iOS device family. Its usage further waned due to more modern web standards which replaced some of Flash's functionality, reducing the need for third-party plugins.

This led to the eventual deprecation of the platform. Flash Player was officially discontinued on 31 December, 2020, and its download page was removed two days later. Since 12 January, 2021, Flash Player (original global variants) versions newer than 32.0.0.371, released in May 2020, refuse to play Flash content and instead display a static warning message. The software remains supported in mainland China and in some enterprise variants.

Features
Adobe Flash Player is a runtime that executes and displays content from a provided SWF file, although it has no in-built features to modify the SWF file at runtime. It can execute software written in the ActionScript programming language which enables the runtime manipulation of text, data, vector graphics, raster graphics, sound, and video. The player can also access certain connected hardware devices, including the web cameras and microphones, after permission for the same has been granted by the user.

Flash Player was used internally by the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), to provide a cross-platform runtime environment for desktop applications and mobile applications. AIR supports installable applications on Windows, Linux, macOS, and some mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android. Flash applications must specifically be built for the AIR runtime to use additional features provided, such as file system integration, native client extensions, native window/screen integration, taskbar/dock integration, and hardware integration with connected Accelerometer and GPS devices.

Data formats
Flash Player included native support for many data formats, some of which can only be accessed through the ActionScript scripting interface.

 * XML: Flash Player has included native support for XML parsing and generation since version 8. XML data is held in memory as an XML Document Object Model, and can be manipulated using ActionScript. ActionScript 3 also supports ECMAScript for XML (E4X), which allows XML data to be manipulated more easily.
 * JSON: Flash Player 11 includes native support for importing and exporting data in the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, which allows interoperability with web services and JavaScript programs.
 * AMF: Flash Player allows application data to be stored on users computers, in the form of Local Shared Objects, the Flash equivalent to browser cookies. Flash Player can also natively read and write files in the Action Message Format, the default data format for Local Shared Objects. Since the AMF format specification is published, data can be transferred to and from Flash applications using AMF datasets instead of JSON or XML, reducing the need for parsing and validating such data.
 * SWF: The specification for the SWF file format was published by Adobe, enabling the development of the SWX Format project, which used the SWF file format and AMF as a means for Flash applications to exchange data with server side applications. The SWX system stores data as standard SWF bytecode which is automatically interpreted by Flash Player. Another open-source project, SWXml allows Flash applications to load XML files as native ActionScript objects without any client-side XML parsing, by converting XML files to SWF/AMF on the server.

Multimedia formats
Flash Player is primarily a graphics and multimedia platform, and has supported raster graphics and vector graphics since its earliest version. It supports the following different multimedia formats, which it can natively decode and play back.

 * MP3: Support for decoding and playback of streaming MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) audio was introduced in Flash Player 4. MP3 files can be accessed and played back from a server via HTTP, or embedded inside an SWF file, which is also a streaming format.
 * FLV: Support for decoding and playing back video and audio inside Flash Video (FLV and F4V) files, a format developed by Adobe Systems and Macromedia. Flash Video is only a container format and supports multiple different video codecs, such as Sorenson Spark, VP6, and more recently H.264. Flash Player uses hardware acceleration to display video where present, using technologies such as DirectX Video Acceleration and OpenGL to do so. Flash Video is used by YouTube, Hulu, Yahoo! Video, BBC Online, and other news providers. FLV files can be played back from a server using HTTP progressive download, and can also be embedded inside an SWF file. Flash Video can also be streamed via RTMP using the Adobe Flash Media Server or other such server-side software.
 * PNG: Support for decoding and rendering Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images, in both its 24-bit (opaque) and 32-bit (semi-transparent) variants. Flash Player 11 can also encode a PNG bitmap via ActionScript.
 * JPEG: Support for decoding and rendering compressed JPEG images. Flash Player 10 added support for the JPEG-XR advanced image compression standard developed by Microsoft Corporation, which results in better compression and quality than JPEG. JPEG-XR enables lossy and lossless compression with or without alpha channel transparency. Flash Player 11 can also encode a JPEG or JPEG-XR bitmap via ActionScript.
 * GIF: Support for decoding and rendering compressed Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) images, in its single-frame variants only. Loading a multi-frame GIF will display only the first image frame.

Streaming protocols

 * HTTP: Support for communicating with web servers using HTTP requests and POST data. However, only websites that explicitly allow Flash to connect to them can be accessed via HTTP or sockets, to prevent Flash being used as a tool for cross-site request forgery, cross-site scripting, DNS rebinding, and denial-of-service attacks. Websites must host a certain XML file termed a cross domain policy, allowing or denying Flash content from specific websites to connect to them. Certain websites, such as Digg, Flickr, and Photobucket already host a cross domain policy that permits Flash content to access their website via HTTP.
 * RTMP: Support for live audio and video streaming using the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) developed by Macromedia. RTMP supports a non-encrypted version over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or an encrypted version over a secure Transport Layer Security (SSL) connection. RTMPT can also be encapsulated within HTTP requests to traverse firewalls that only allow HTTP traffic.
 * TCP: Support for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Internet socket communication to communicate with any type of server, using stream sockets. Sockets can be used only via ActionScript, and can transfer plain text, XML, or binary data (ActionScript 3.0 and later). To prevent security issues, web servers that permit Flash content to communicate with them using sockets must host an XML-based cross domain policy file, served on Port 843. Sockets enable AS3 programs to interface with any kind of server software, such as MySQL.

Hardware acceleration
Until version 10 of the Flash player, there was no support for GPU acceleration. Version 10 added a limited form of support for shaders on materials in the form of the Pixel Bender API, but still did not have GPU-accelerated 3D vertex processing. A significant change came in version 11, which added a new low-level API called Stage3D (initially codenamed Molehill), which provides full GPU acceleration, similar to WebGL. (The partial support for GPU acceleration in Pixel Bender was completely removed in Flash 11.8, resulting in the disruption of some projects like MIT's Scratch, which lacked the manpower to recode their applications quickly enough. )

Current versions of Flash Player are optimized to use hardware acceleration for video playback and 3D graphics rendering on many devices, including desktop computers. Performance is similar to HTML video playback. Also, Flash Player has been used on multiple mobile devices as a primary user interface renderer.

Compilation
Although code written in ActionScript 3 executes up to 10 times faster than the prior ActionScript 2, the Adobe ActionScript 3 compiler is a non-optimizing compiler, and produces inefficient bytecode in the resulting SWF, when compared to toolkits such as CrossBridge.

CrossBridge, a toolkit that targets C++ code to run within the Flash Player, uses the LLVM compiler to produce bytecode that runs up to 10 times faster than code the ActionScript 3 compiler produces, only because the LLVM compiler uses more aggressive optimization.

Adobe has released ActionScript Compiler 2 (ASC2) in Flex 4.7 and onwards, which improves compilation times and optimizes the generated bytecode and supports method inlining, improving its performance at runtime.

As of 2012, the Haxe multiplatform language can build programs for Flash Player that perform faster than the same application built with the Adobe Flex SDK compiler.

Development methods
Flash Player applications and games can be built in two significantly different methods:

 * "Flex" applications: The Adobe Flex Framework is an integrated collection of stylable graphical user interface, data manipulation and networking components, and applications built upon it are termed "Flex" applications. Startup time is reduced since the Flex framework must be downloaded before the application begins, and weighs in at approximately 500 KB. Editors include Adobe Flash Builder and FlashDevelop.
 * "Pure ActionScript" applications: Applications built without the Flex framework allow greater flexibility and performance.  Video games built for Flash Player are typically pure-Actionscript projects. Various open-source component frameworks are available for pure ActionScript projects, such as MadComponents, that provide UI Components at significantly smaller SWF file sizes.

In both methods, developers can access the full Flash Player set of functions, including text, vector graphics, bitmap graphics, video, audio, camera, microphone, and others. AIR also includes added features such as file system integration, native extensions, native desktop integration, and hardware integration with connected devices.

Development tools
Adobe provides five ways of developing applications for Flash Player:
 * Adobe Animate: graphic design, animation and scripting toolset
 * Adobe Flash Builder: enterprise application development and debugging
 * Adobe Scout: visual profiler for performance optimization
 * Apache Flex: a free SDK to compile Flash and Adobe AIR applications from source code; developed by Adobe and donated to the Apache Foundation
 * CrossBridge: a free SDK to cross-compile C++ code to run in Flash Player

Third-party development environments are also available:
 * FlashDevelop: an open-source Flash ActionScript IDE, which includes a debugger for AIR applications
 * Powerflasher FDT: a commercial ActionScript IDE
 * CodeDrive: an extension to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for ActionScript 3 development and debugging
 * MTASC: a compiler
 * Haxe: a multi-platform language

Game development
Adobe offers the free Adobe Gaming SDK, consisting of several open-source AS3 libraries built on the Flash Player Stage3D APIs for GPU-accelerated graphics:
 * Away3D: GPU-accelerated 3D graphics and animation engine
 * Starling: GPU-accelerated 2D graphics that mimics the Flash display list API
 * Feathers: GPU-accelerated skinnable GUI library built on top of Starling
 * Dragon Bones: GPU-accelerated 2D skeletal animation library

A few commercial game engines target Flash Player (Stage3D) as run-time environment, such as Unity 3D and Unreal Engine 3. Before the introduction of Stage3D, a number of older 2D engines or isometric engines like Flixel saw their heyday.

Adobe also developed the CrossBridge toolkit which cross-compiles C/C++ code to run within the Flash Player, using LLVM and GCC as compiler backends, and high-performance memory-access opcodes in the Flash Player (termed "Domain Memory") to work with in-memory data quickly. CrossBridge is targeted toward the game development industry, and includes tools for building, testing, and debugging C/C++ projects in Flash Player.

Notable online video games developed in Flash include Angry Birds, FarmVille, and AdventureQuest (started in 2002, and still active as of 2020).

Desktop platforms
Adobe Flash Player is available in two major versions:
 * 1) The plugin version for use in various web browsers
 * 2) The "projector" version is a standalone player that can open SWF files directly.

On February 22, 2012, Adobe announced that it would no longer release new versions of NPAPI Flash plugins for Linux, although Flash Player 11.2 would continue to receive security updates. In August 2016, Adobe announced that, beginning with version 24, it would resume offering of Flash Player for Linux for other browsers.

The Extended Support Release (ESR) of Flash Player on macOS and Windows was a version of Flash Player kept up to date with security updates, but none of the new features or bug fixes available in later versions. In August 2016, Adobe discontinued the ESR branch and instead focused solely on the standard release.

Version 10 can be run under Windows 98/Me using KernelEx. HP offered Version 6 of the player for HP-UX, while Innotek GmbH offered versions 4 and 5 for OS/2. Other versions of the player have been available at some point for BeOS.

Mobile platforms
In 2011, Flash Player had emerged as the de facto standard for online video publishing on the desktop, with adaptive bitrate video streaming, DRM, and fullscreen support. On mobile devices, however, after Apple refused to allow the Flash Player within iOS's integrated web browser, Adobe changed its strategy, enabling Flash content to be delivered as native mobile applications using the Adobe Integrated Runtime.

Up until 2012, Flash Player 11 was available for the Android (ARM Cortex-A8 and above), although in June 2012, Google announced that Android 4.1 (codenamed Jelly Bean) would not support Flash by default. In August 2012, Adobe stopped updating Flash for Android.

Flash Player was supported on a select range of mobile and tablet devices, from Acer, BlackBerry 10, Dell, HTC, Lenovo, Logitech, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp, SoftBank, Sony (and Sony Ericsson), and Toshiba. As of 2012, Adobe has stopped browser-based Flash Player development for mobile browsers in favor of HTML5; however, Adobe continues to support Flash content on mobile devices with the Adobe Integrated Runtime, which allows developers to publish content that runs as native applications on certain supported mobile phone platforms.

Adobe said it will optimize Flash for use on ARM architecture (ARMv7 and ARMv6 architectures used in the Cortex-A series of processors and in the ARM11 family) and release it in the second half of 2009. The company also stated it wants to enable Flash on NVIDIA Tegra, Texas Instruments OMAP 3, and Samsung ARMs. Beginning 2009, it was announced that Adobe would be bringing Flash to TV sets via Intel Media Processor CE 3100 before mid-2009. ARM Holdings later said it welcomes the move of Flash, because "it will transform mobile applications and it removes the claim that the desktop controls the Internet." However, as of May 2009, the expected ARM/Linux netbook devices had poor support for Web video and fragmented software base.

Among other devices, LeapFrog Enterprises provides Flash Player with their Leapster Multimedia Learning System and extended the Flash Player with touch-screen support. Version 9 was the most recent version available for the Linux/ARM-based Nokia 770/N800/N810 Internet tablets running Maemo OS2008. Other versions of the player have been available at some point for Symbian OS and Palm OS. The Kodak Easyshare One includes Flash Player.

The following table documents historical support for Flash Player on mobile operating systems:

Other hardware
Some CPU emulators have been created for Flash Player, including Chip8, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. They enable video games created for such platforms to run within Flash Player.

End of life
Adobe announced on July 25, 2017, that it would end support for the normal/global variant of Flash Player on January 1, 2021, and encouraged developers to use HTML5 standards in place of Flash. The announcement was coordinated with Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla. Adobe announced that all major web browsers planned to officially remove the Adobe Flash Player component on December 31, 2020, and Microsoft removed it from the Windows OS in January 2021 via Windows Update. In a move to further reduce the number of Flash Player installations, Adobe added a "time bomb" to Flash to disable existing installations after January 12, 2021. In mid-2020, Flash Player started prompting users to uninstall itself. Adobe removed all existing download links for Flash installers. After January 26, 2021, all major web browsers including Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox have already permanently removed Flash support. However, Flash content continues to be accessible on the web through emulators such as Ruffle, with varying degrees of compatibility and performance, although this is not endorsed by Adobe.

Google Chrome
Starting from Chrome 76, Flash is disabled by default without any prompts to activate Flash content. Users who wanted to play Flash content had to manually set a browser to prompt for Flash content, and then during each browser session, enable Flash plugin for every site individually. Microsoft Edge, which is based on Chromium, followed the same plan as Google Chrome.

Google Chrome blocked the Flash plugin as "out of date" in January 2021, and fully removed it from the browser with Chrome version 88, released on January 20, 2021.

Mozilla Firefox
Starting with Firefox 85, Flash is disabled by default without any prompts to activate Flash content. To play Flash content, users had to manually set a browser to prompt for Flash content, and then during each browser session enable Flash plugin for every site individually. Firefox 85, released on January 26, 2021, completely removed support for the Flash plugin. Firefox ESR dropped support on November 2, 2021 (Firefox 78 ESR was the last version with support).

Microsoft Windows
On October 27, 2020, Microsoft released an update (named KB4577586) for Windows 10 and 8.1 which removes the embedded Adobe Flash Player component from IE11 and Edge Legacy. In July 2021, this update was automatically installed as a security patch. However, an ActiveX Flash Player plugin may still be used with IE after this update is applied.

Apple Safari
Apple dropped Flash Player support from Safari 14 alongside the release of macOS Big Sur.

Fallout
Despite the years of notice, several websites still were using Flash following December 31, 2020, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these were resolved in the weeks after the deadline. However, many educational institutions still relied on Flash for educational material and did not have a path forward for replacement.

Mainland China
The China-specific variant of Flash is still supported, by a company known as Zhongcheng. The Projector (standalone) versions of this variant also work outside of China and do not include the "Flash Helper Service"; however, some tracking code still seems to be present. They are available on a somewhat hidden "Debug" page. In addition, as the global variant of the plugin was discontinued, some users have figured how to modify and repack the China-specific variant to bring it more in line with the global variant. This includes removing the "Flash Helper Service" and removing the China only installation restriction, along with all other geo-restrictions and tracking code. A "time bomb," similar to the one found in later versions of the global variant, is also present in the unmodified China variant; this is also removed in most repacks. In theory, these repacks should provide users outside of China with the latest security updates to Flash Player, without having to deal with invasive advertisements or worry about privacy risks. One such project, "Clean Flash Installer," was served a DMCA takedown from Adobe in October 2021.

Enterprise
Adobe has partnered with Harman to support enterprise Flash Player users until at least 2023. The Harman Flash player variant is labeled as version 50.x, to avoid confusion with other variants.

Web browsers
Internet Explorer 11, along with IE mode in Edge, will continue with ActiveX support, and by extension Flash Player support. Firefox forks that plan to continue NPAPI support, and by extension Flash Player support, include Basilisk, Pale Moon, K-Meleon, and Waterfox Classic. Various Chromium-based Chinese browsers will also continue to support Flash Player in PPAPI and/or NPAPI form, including, but not limited to, 360 Secure Browser.

Shortly after Flash reached end-of-life, South African Revenue Service (SARS) released a custom version of the Chromium browser with the Adobe Flash Player "time bomb" removed. This browser can access only a small set of SARS online pages containing Flash-based forms required for filing financial reports.

Adobe Flash Player Projector
Although no longer available directly from Adobe, all versions of Adobe Flash Player Projector (also known as Adobe Flash Player Standalone) lack the "time bomb" present in the newer plug-in variants, and thus continue to be able to play all supported Flash file formats, including SWF files, without modification.

Content preservation projects
The Internet Archive hosts some Flash content and makes it playable in modern browsers via emulators Ruffle and Emularity. Other emulators, such as CheerpX, also exist as options for Flash Player emulation on other websites. BlueMaxima's Flashpoint project claims to have collected more than 38,000 Adobe Flash Player games and animations and made them available for download.

Open source
Adobe has released some components of Adobe Flash products as open source software via Open Screen Project or donated them to open source organizations. As of 2021, most of these technologies are considered obsolete. This includes: ActionScript Virtual Machine 2 (AVM2) which implements ActionScript 3 (donated as open-source to Mozilla Foundation), Adobe Flex Framework (donated as open-source to the Apache Software Foundation and rebranded as Apache Flex, superseded by Apache Royale), CrossBridge C++ cross-compilation toolset (released on GitHub).

Accessibility and usability
In some browsers, prior Flash versions have had to be uninstalled before an updated version could be installed. However, as of version 11.2 for Windows, there are now automatic updater options. Linux is partially supported, as Adobe is cooperating with Google to implement it via Chrome web browser on all Linux platforms.

Mixing Flash applications with HTML leads to inconsistent input handling leading to poor user experience with the site (keyboard and mouse not working as they would in an HTML-only document).

Privacy
Flash Player supports persistent local storage of data (also referred to as Local Shared Objects), which can be used similarly to HTTP cookies or Web Storage in web applications. Local storage in Flash Player allows websites to store non-executable data on a user's computer, such as authentication information, game high scores or web browser games, server-based session identifiers, site preferences, saved work, or temporary files. Flash Player will only allow content originating from exactly the same website domain to access data saved in local storage.

Because local storage can be used to save information on a computer that is later retrieved by the same site, a site can use it to gather user statistics, similar to how HTTP cookies and Web Storage can be used. With such technologies, the possibility of building a profile based on user statistics is considered by some a potential privacy concern. Users can disable or restrict use of local storage in Flash Player through a "Settings Manager" page. These settings can be accessed from the Adobe website or by right-clicking on Flash-based content and selecting "Global Settings".

Local storage can be disabled entirely or on a site-by-site basis. Disabling local storage will block any content from saving local user information using Flash Player, but this may disable or reduce the functionality of some websites, such as saved preferences or high scores and saved progress in games.

Flash Player 10.1 and upward honor the privacy mode settings in the latest versions of the Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari web browsers, such that no local storage data is saved when the browser's privacy mode is in use.

Security
Adobe security bulletins and advisories announce security updates, but Adobe Flash Player release notes do not disclose the security issues addressed when a release closes security holes, making it difficult to evaluate the urgency of a particular update. A version test page allows the user to check if the latest version is installed, and uninstallers may be used to ensure that old-version plugins have been uninstalled from all installed browsers.

In February 2010, Adobe officially apologized for not fixing a known vulnerability for over a year. In June 2010 Adobe announced a "critical vulnerability" in recent versions, saying there are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against both Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Later, in October 2010, Adobe announced another critical vulnerability, this time also affecting Android-based mobile devices. Android users have been recommended to disable Flash or make it only on demand. Subsequent security vulnerabilities also exposed Android users, such as the two critical vulnerabilities published in February 2013 or the four critical vulnerabilities published in March 2013, all of which could lead to arbitrary code execution.

Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report states that a remote code execution in Adobe Reader and Flash Player was the second most attacked vulnerability in 2009. The same report also recommended using browser extensions to disable Flash Player usage on untrusted websites. McAfee predicted that Adobe software, especially Reader and Flash, would be primary target for attacks in 2010. Adobe applications had become, at least at some point, the most popular client-software targets for attackers during the last quarter of 2009. The Kaspersky Security Network published statistics for the third quarter of 2012 showing that 47.5% of its users were affected by one or more critical vulnerabilities. The report also highlighted that "Flash Player vulnerabilities enable cybercriminals to bypass security systems integrated into the application."

Steve Jobs criticized the security of Flash Player, noting that "Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009." Adobe responded by pointing out that "the Symantec Global Internet Threat Report for 2009, found that Flash Player had the second lowest number of vulnerabilities of all Internet technologies listed (which included both web plug-ins and browsers)."

On April 7, 2016, Adobe released a Flash Player patch for a zero-day memory corruption vulnerability that could be used to deliver malware via the Magnitude exploit kit. The vulnerability could be exploited for remote code execution.

Vendor lock-in
Flash Player 11.2 does not play certain kinds of content unless it has been digitally signed by Adobe, following a license obtained by the publisher directly from Adobe.

This move by Adobe, together with the abandonment of Flex to Apache was criticized as a way to lock out independent tool developers, in favor of Adobe's commercial tools.

This has been resolved as of January 2013, after Adobe no longer requires a license or royalty from the developer. All premium features are now classified as general availability, and can be freely used by Flash applications.

Apple controversy
In April 2010, Steve Jobs, at the time CEO of Apple Inc. published an open letter explaining why Apple would not support Flash on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. In the letter he blamed problems with the "openness", stability, security, performance, and touchscreen integration of the Flash Player as reasons for refusing to support it. He also claimed that when one of Apple's Macintosh computers crashes, "more often than not" the cause can be attributed to Flash, and described Flash as "buggy". Adobe's CEO Shantanu Narayen responded by saying, "If Flash [is] the number one reason that Macs crash, which I'm not aware of, it has as much to do with the Apple operating system."

Steve Jobs also claimed that a large percentage of the video on the Internet is supported on iOS, since many popular video sharing websites such as YouTube have published video content in an HTML5 compatible format, enabling videos to playback in mobile web browsers even without Flash Player.

Mainland China–specific variant
Starting with version 30, Adobe stopped distributing Flash Player directly to users from mainland China. Instead, they selected 2144.cn as a partner and released a special variant of Flash Player on a specific website, which contains a non-closable process, known as the "Flash Helper Service", that collects private information and pops up advertisement window contents, by receiving and running encrypted programs from a remote server. The partnership started in about 2017, but in version 30, Adobe disabled the usage of vanilla (global) variant of Flash Player in mainland China, forcing users to use that specific variant, which may pose a risk to its users due to Internet censorship by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This only affected Chinese Chromium based browser users, Firefox users, and Internet Explorer users using Windows 7 and below, as Microsoft still directly distributed Flash Player for Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge through Windows Update in Windows 8 and upward at the time. Starting in 2021, however, this variant is the only publicly supported version of Flash Player.

Release history

 * FutureSplash Player 1.1
 * New scripting features
 * Option to disable the menu and memory management optimizations
 * Macromedia Flash Player 2 (June 17, 1997)
 * Mostly vectors and motion, some bitmaps, limited audio
 * Support of stereo sound, enhanced bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the ability to tween color changes
 * Macromedia Flash Player 3 (May 31, 1998)
 * Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression
 * Brought improvements to animation, playback, digital art, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple script commands for interactivity
 * Macromedia Flash Player 4 (June 15, 1999)
 * Saw the introduction of streaming MP3s and the Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to download it. As of 2000, however, the Flash Player was already being distributed with all AOL, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Two years later it shipped with all releases of Windows XP. The install-base of the Flash Player reached 92 percent of all Internet users.
 * Macromedia Flash Player 5 (August 24, 2000)
 * A major advance in ability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting abilities as released as ActionScript
 * Saw the ability to customize the authoring environment's interface
 * Macromedia Generator was the first initiative from Macromedia to separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in April 2001, and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content in its Enterprise Edition. Generator was discontinued in 2002, in favor of new technologies such as Flash Remoting, which allows for seamless transmission of data between the server and the client, and ColdFusion Server.
 * In October 2000, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote a polemic article regarding usability of Flash content entitled "Flash: 99% Bad". (Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability.)
 * Macromedia Flash Player 6 (version 6.0.21.0, codenamed Exorcist) (March 15, 2002)
 * Support for the consuming Flash Remoting (AMF) and Web Service (SOAP)
 * Supports ondemand/live audio and video streaming (RTMP)
 * Support for screenreaders via Microsoft Active Accessibility
 * Added Sorenson Spark video codec for Flash Video
 * Support for video, application components, shared libraries, and accessibility
 * Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX, also released in 2002, allowed video to be streamed to Flash Player 6 (otherwise the video could be embedded into the Flash movie).
 * Macromedia Flash Player 7 (version 7.0.14.0, codenamed Mojo) (September 10, 2003)
 * Supports progressive audio and video streaming (HTTP)
 * Supports ActionScript 2.0, an object-oriented programming language for developers
 * Ability to create charts, graphs and additional text effects with the new support for extensions (sold separately), high fidelity import of PDF and Adobe Illustrator 10 files, mobile and device development and a forms-based development environment. ActionScript 2.0 was also introduced, giving developers a formal object-oriented approach to ActionScript.  V2 Components replaced Flash MX's components, being rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of ActionScript 2.0 and object-oriented principles.
 * In 2004, the "Flash Platform" was introduced. This expanded Flash to more than the Flash authoring tool. Flex 1.0 and Breeze 1.0 were released, both of which used the Flash Player as a delivery method but relied on tools other than the Flash authoring program to create Flash applications and presentations. Flash Lite 1.1 was also released, enabling mobile phones to play Flash content.
 * Last version for Windows 95/NT4 and Mac Classic
 * Macromedia Flash Player 8 (version 8.0.22.0, codenamed Maelstrom) (September 13, 2005)
 * Support for runtime loading of GIF and PNG images
 * New video codec (On2 VP6)
 * Improved runtime performance and runtime bitmap caching
 * Live filters and blendmodes
 * File upload and download abilities
 * New text-rendering engine, the Saffron Type System
 * ExternalAPI subsystem introduced to replace fscommand
 * On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product portfolio (including Flash).
 * Macromedia Flash Player 8 (version 8.0.24.0) (April 23, 2006)
 * Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.15.0, codenamed Zaphod and formerly named Flash Player 8.5) (June 22, 2006)
 * Introduction of ActionScript Virtual Machine 2 (AVM2) with AVM1 retained for compatibility
 * ActionScript 3 (a superset of ECMAScript 3) via AVM2
 * E4X, which is a new approach to parsing XML
 * Support for binary sockets
 * Support for regular expressions and namespaces
 * AVM2 donated to Mozilla Foundation as open-source virtual machine named Tamarin
 * Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 1 (version 9.0.28.0, codenamed Marvin) (November 9, 2006)
 * Support for fullscreen mode
 * Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.45.0) (March 27, 2007)
 * Support for Creative Suite 3.
 * Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 2 (version Mac/Windows 9.0.47.0 and Linux 9.0.48.0, codenamed Hotblack) (June 11, 2007)
 * Security update
 * Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (version 9.0.115.0, codenamed Moviestar or Frogstar) (December 2007)
 * H.264
 * AAC (HE-AAC, AAC Main Profile, and AAC-LC)
 * New Flash Video file format F4V based on the ISO base media file format (MPEG-4 Part 12)
 * Support for container formats based on the ISO base media file format
 * Last version for Windows 98/ME and other platforms
 * Adobe Flash Player 10  (version 10.0.12.36, codenamed Astro) (October 15, 2008)
 * New features
 * 3D object transformations
 * Custom filters via Pixel Bender
 * Advanced text support
 * Speex audio codec
 * Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP)
 * Dynamic sound generation
 * Vector data type
 * Enhanced features
 * Larger bitmap support
 * Graphics drawing API
 * Context menu
 * Hardware acceleration
 * Anti-aliasing engine (Saffron 3.1)
 * Read/write clipboard access
 * WMODE
 * Adobe Flash Player 10  (version 10.0.32.18) (July 27, 2009)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10  (version 10.0.42.34) (November 16, 2009)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10  (version 10.0.45.2) (February 21, 2010)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (version 10.1.53.64, codenamed Argo) (June 10, 2010)
 * Reuse of bitmap data copies for better memory management
 * Improved garbage collector
 * Hardware-based H.264 video decoding
 * HTTP Dynamic Streaming
 * Peer-assisted networking and multicast
 * Support for browser privacy modes
 * Multi-touch APIs
 * For Macs/OSX 10.4 ppc or later
 * Using Cocoa UI for Macs
 * Use of double-buffered OpenGL context for fullscreen
 * Use of Core Animation
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.2 (version 10.2.152.26, codenamed Spicy) (February 8, 2011)
 * Stage Video, a full hardware-accelerated video pipeline
 * Internet Explorer 9 hardware-accelerated rendering support
 * Custom native mouse cursors
 * Multiple monitor fullscreen support
 * Enhanced subpixel rendering for text

 * Adobe Flash Player 10.2 (version 10.2.152.32) (February 28, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.2 (version 10.2.153.1) (March 21, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.2 (version 10.2.159.1) (April 15, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.181.14, codenamed Wasabi) (May 12, 2011)
 * Media measurement (video analytics for websites; desktop only)
 * Acoustic Echo Cancellation (acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, voice activity detection, automatic compensation for microphone input levels; desktop only)
 * Integration with browser privacy controls for managing local storage (ClearSiteData NPAPI)
 * Native control panel
 * Auto-update notification for Mac OS X
 * Last version for Mac OS X 10.5 and Windows 2000 (unofficially bypassing the XP installer)
 * Adobe replaced Extended Support Release 10.3 by 11.7 on July 9, 2013.
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.181.23) (June 5, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.181.26) (June 14, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.181.34) (June 29, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.183.5) (August 14, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.183.7) (August 24, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.183.10) (September 21, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.183.11) (November 11, 2011)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.183.25) (September 18, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 10.3 (version 10.3.183.29) (October 8, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11 (version 11.0.1.152, codenamed Serrano) (October 4, 2011)
 * Desktop only
 * Stage 3D accelerated graphics rendering
 * Desktop: Windows (DirectX 9), OS X (Intel processor only) and Linux (OpenGL 1.3), SwiftShader fallback
 * Mobile: Android and iOS (OpenGL ES 2)
 * H.264/AVC software encoding for cameras
 * Native 64-bit
 * Asynchronous bitmap decoding
 * TLS secure sockets
 * Desktop and mobile
 * Stage Video hardware acceleration
 * Native extension libraries
 * Desktop: Windows (.dll), OS X (.framework)
 * Mobile: Android (.jar, .so), iOS (.a)
 * JPEG XR decoding
 * G.711 audio compression for telephony
 * Protected HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS)
 * Unlimited bitmap size
 * LZMA SWF compression
 * Mobile only
 * H.264/AAC playback
 * Front-facing camera
 * Background audio playback
 * Device speaker control
 * 16- and 32-bit color depth
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.1 (version 11.1.102.55, codenamed Anza) (November 10, 2011)
 * Last version of the web browser plug-in for mobile devices (made for Android 2.2 to 4.0.3)
 * iOS 5 native extensions for AIR
 * StageText: Native text input UI for Android
 * Security enhancements, last official version for Windows 2000
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.1 (version 11.1.102.62) (March 5, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.2 (version 11.2.202.228) (March 28, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.2 (version 11.2.202.233) (April 12, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.2 (version 11.2.202.235, codenamed Brannan) (May 3, 2012)
 * The Windows version offers automatic updater options
 * Dropped support of the browser plug-in for mobile devices (Android). Android app developers are encouraged to use Adobe Air and Android web developers should switch to HTML5.
 * Extended support for Flash player 11.2 on Solaris as it is the last version to be supported.
 * Adobe replaced Extended Support Release 11.2 on Linux with 24.0 on December 13, 2016.
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.257) (June 8, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.262) (June 21, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.265) (July 11, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.268) (July 26, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.270) (August 4, 2012)
 * Desktop and mobile
 * Fullscreen interactive mode (keyboard input during fullscreen)
 * Native bitmap encoding and compression (PNG, JPEG, JPEG-XR)
 * Draw bitmaps with quality (low, medium, high, best)
 * Texture streaming for Stage3D
 * Dropped support for Linux and Solaris
 * Mobile-only
 * Auto-orientation on specific devices
 * USB debugging for AIR on iOS
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.271) (September 18, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.3 (version 11.3.300.273) (October 3, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.4 (version 11.4.402.259) (August 10, 2012)
 * Flash Player only
 * ActionScript workers
 * SandboxBridge support
 * Licensing support: Flash Player Premium features for gaming
 * Flash Player and AIR
 * Stage3D "constrained" profile for increased GPU reach
 * LZMA support for
 * StageVideo attachCamera/Camera improvements
 * Compressed texture with alpha support for Stage3D
 * DXT encoding
 * AIR only
 * Deprecated Carbon APIs for AIR
 * Direct AIR deployment using ADT
 * Push notifications for iOS
 * Ambient AudioPlaybackMode
 * Exception support in Native Extensions for iOS
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.4 (version 11.4.402.265) (August 21, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.4 (version 11.4.402.278) (September 18, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.4 (version 11.4.402.287) (October 8, 2012)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.5
 * Shared ByteArray
 * Invoke Event enhancement (for openurl)
 * Packaging multiple libraries in an ANE (iOS)
 * Debug stack trace in release builds of Flash Player
 * Statically link DRM (desktop only)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.6 (codenamed Folsom)
 * Lossless video export from standalone and authplay.dll
 * Support for flash.display.graphics.readGraphicsData that returns a Vector of IGraphicsData
 * Improve permissions UI related to full screen keyboard access
 * Prevent ActiveX abuse in Office documents
 * Support file access in cloud on Windows
 * Enhance multi-SWF support
 * Migration certification for ANEs
 * RectangleTexture
 * File API update so AIR apps conform to Apple data storage guidelines
 * Separate sampler state for Stage3D
 * Set device specific Retina Display resolution (iOS)
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.7 (version 11.7.700.169, codenamed Geary) (April 9, 2013)
 * SharedObject.preventBackup property
 * forceCPURenderModeForDevices
 * Remote hosting of SWF files in case of multiple SWFs
 * Support for uploading 16-bit texture formats
 * GameInput updates
 * Android – create captive runtime apps
 * Adobe replaced Extended Support Release 11.7 on Mac and Windows with 13.0 on May 13, 2014.
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.8 (codenamed Harrison)
 * Stage3D baselineExtended profile
 * Recursive stop on MovieClip
 * Flash Player & AIR Desktop Game Pad Support
 * Support for large textures (extendedBaseline, 4096)
 * Rectangle texture
 * DatagramSocket
 * ServerSocket
 * Substitute a redirected URL from a source URLRequest for part of the URL in a new URLRequest
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.9 (codenamed Irving)
 * OS X Mavericks Support
 * Mac .pkg Installation Support
 * Adobe Flash Player 12 (codenamed Jones) (November 14, 2013)
 * Improved Mac .pkg Installation Support for the work flow and UI
 * Support for Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7
 * Support for Safe Mode in Safari 6.1 and higher
 * 64-bit PPAPI Flash Player for Google Chrome
 * Graphics: Buffer Usage flag for Stage3D
 * Adobe Flash Player 13 (codenamed King)
 * Supplementary Characters Enhancement Support for Text Field
 * Full Screen video message tweak
 * this is the Extended Support Release.
 * Adobe Flash Player 14 (version 14.0.0.125, codenamed Lombard) (June 10, 2014)
 * Stage 3D Standard profile
 * Adobe Flash Player 14 (version 14.0.0.145) (July 8, 2014)
 * Adobe Flash Player 14 (version 14.0.0.179) (August 12, 2014)
 * Adobe Flash Player 15 (version 15.0.0.152, codenamed Market) (September 9, 2014)
 * Improved support for browser zoom levels
 * Adobe Flash Player 15 (version 15.0.0.167) (September 23, 2014)
 * Adobe Flash Player 15 (version 15.0.0.223) (November 11, 2014)
 * Adobe Flash Player 16 (version 16.0.0.235, codenamed Natoma) (December 9, 2014)
 * Stage3D – Standard Constrained Profile
 * PPAPI Installers for Windows and Mac
 * Adobe Flash Player 16 (version 16.0.0.257) (January 13, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 16 (version 16.0.0.287) (January 22, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 16 (version 16.0.0.296) (January 27, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 16 (version 16.0.0.305) (February 5, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 17 (version 17.0.0.134, codenamed Octavia) (March 12, 2015)
 * Control Panel improvements
 * Installer improvements for Mac
 * Adobe Flash Player 17 (version 17.0.0.169) (April 14, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 17 (version 17.0.0.188) (May 12, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 18 (version 18.0.0.160, codenamed Presidio) (June 9, 2015)
 * Contains fixes for Adobe Security Bulletin APSB 15–11
 * Adobe Flash Player 18 (version 18.0.0.194) (June 23, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 18 (version 18.0.0.203) (July 8, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 18 (version 18.0.0.209) (July 14, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 18 (version 18.0.0.232) (August 11, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 19 (version 19.0.0.185, codenamed Quint) (September 21, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 19 (version 19.0.0.207) (October 13, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 19 (version 19.0.0.226) (October 16, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 19 (version 19.0.0.245) (November 10, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 20 (version 20.0.0.228, codenamed Rankin) (December 8, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 20 (version 20.0.0.267) (December 28, 2015)
 * Adobe Flash Player 20 (version 20.0.0.270) (January 1, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 20 (version 20.0.0.286) (January 19, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 20 (version 20.0.0.306) (February 9, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 21 (version 21.0.0.182, codenamed Sutter) (March 10, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 21 (version 21.0.0.197) (March 23, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 21 (version 21.0.0.213) (April 7, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 21 (version 21.0.0.216) (April 8, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 21 (version 21.0.0.226) (April 21, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 21 (version 21.0.0.242) (May 12, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 22 (version 22.0.0.185, codenamed Townsend) (June 16, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 22 (version 22.0.0.209) (July 12, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 22 (version 22.0.0.210) (July 14, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 23 (version 23.0.0.162, codenamed Underwood) (September 13, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 23 (version 23.0.0.185) (October 11, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 23 (version 23.0.0.205) (October 26, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 23 (version 23.0.0.207) (November 8, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 24 (version 24.0.0.186, codenamed Van Ness) (December 13, 2016)
 * Adobe Flash Player 24 (version 24.0.0.194) (January 10, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 24 (version 24.0.0.221) (February 14, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 25 (version 25.0.0.127, codenamed Webster) (March 14, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 25 (version 25.0.0.148) (April 11, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 25 (version 25.0.0.163) (April 20, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 25 (version 25.0.0.171) (May 9, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 26 (version 26.0.0.126, codenamed York) (June 13, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 26 (version 26.0.0.131) (June 16, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 26 (version 26.0.0.137) (July 11, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 26 (version 26.0.0.151) (August 8, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 27 (version 27.0.0.130, codenamed Zoe) (September 12, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 27 (version 27.0.0.159) (October 10, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 27 (version 27.0.0.170) (October 16, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 27 (version 27.0.0.183) (October 25, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 27 (version 27.0.0.187) (November 14, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 28 (version 28.0.0.126, codenamed Atka) (December 12, 2017)
 * Adobe Flash Player 28 (version 28.0.0.137) (January 9, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 28 (version 28.0.0.161) (February 6, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 29 (version 29.0.0.113) (March 13, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 29 (version 29.0.0.140) (April 10, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 29 (version 29.0.0.171) (May 8, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 30 (version 30.0.0.113) (June 7, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 30 (version 30.0.0.134) (July 10, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 30 (version 30.0.0.154) (August 14, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 31 (version 31.0.0.108) (September 11, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 31 (version 31.0.0.122) (October 9, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 31 (version 31.0.0.148) (November 13, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.101) (December 5, 2018)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.114) (January 8, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.142) (February 12, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.156) (March 12, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.171) (April 9, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.192) (May 14, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.207) (June 11, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.223) (July 9, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.238) (August 13, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.255) (September 10, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.270) (October 9, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.293) (November 12, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.303) (December 10, 2019)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.314) (January 14, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.321) (January 21, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.330) (February 11, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.344) (March 10, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.363) (April 14, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.371) (May 12, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.387) (June 9, 2020)
 * Refuses to play Flash content after January 12, 2021, and instead displays a static warning message.
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.403) (July 14, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.414) (August 11, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.433) (September 8, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.445) (October 13, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.453) (November 10, 2020)
 * Adobe Flash Player 32 (version 32.0.0.465) (December 8, 2020)
 * Final global variant update.

title: Adobe Flash Player


text:
Talk:Freedom of religion in Germany

POV tag
I put the POV tag because this article is totally biased and violates wikipedia's NPOV rule. The Islam-section, but also part of the legal section are biased and even factually incorrect, I believe. Where is a source proving that all the religious groups that aren't Catholic or Protestant are sects? That would mean that Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and other religions would be considered sects in Germany, which is certainly not the case. Luis rib 12:23, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The term Sekte is a valid term in German legal documents, and there's an almost general consensus what a Sekte is. A great deal of religious movements carrying various philosophies come along as Sekten, and the fact that a certain philosophy isn't totalitarian doesn't preclude that an many organizations that spread it in Germany do this in a totalitarian manner.

 * http://www.agpf.de/Begriff.htm -- About the term Sekte in German
 * The German Administration Office about Sogenannte Jugendsekten und Psychogruppen http://www.bva.bund.de/aufgaben/jugendsekten_psychogruppen/
 * Adresses of state-appointed and Church-related Sekten referees in Saxony: http://www.sekten-sachsen.de/adressen-sachsen.htm

Daddysmutantkid 15:03, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I know perfectly well that Sekte is a common German word (and a legal word, according to your first link). That wasn't my point at all. The article claims that all religious groups that are not catholic or protestant are considered Sekten - and that is certainly wrong! It it were right, it would mean that Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism would also be considered Sekten - but they are not. Also, the paragraph on Islam is totally POV. Luis rib 15:20, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I do not claim it. I merely explain the claim someone else makes (the Kirchen), and that is rather important for the gov and public opinion in Germany. As for islam, nobody hinders you to re-write it. I'm not a Muslim, me.--Daddysmutantkid 15:28, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Hinduism is not a Sekte in Germany, but Hare Krishna is. As most Hinduism in Germany is presented in the form of Hare Krishna, and the "Churches" have a great influence on public opinion, terms may become blurred. --Daddysmutantkid 15:34, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * What s the source that "the Churches" have major influence in Germany? I watch German TV constantly (I'm not German, BTW, and don't live in Germany), but I'm not aware of such a major influence. Rather, it seems that Sekten in Germany refers to religious groups which have too great a degree of control on their faithful (see the first link you provided, under Kurz gefasst:Was ist eine Sekte). It is the same kind of definition as the French word secte, and in France there is no influence of "the Churches".
 * Still, the current article gives the impression that anything that isn't "the Churches" is considered a sect - which is not the case, and also doesn't seem to be the general belief. Luis rib 15:43, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I think you should make your impressioon on what the country is like rather on real life than on television. As explained in the article, the "Churches" (and now, JW) are bodies of public law what makes them de facto a part of the state. They function under public law and have authority to fulfill certain tasks that normally only the state shall fulfill. There is even a section of German public law called Staatskirchenrecht, law dealing with the "Churches" as parts of the public law. All other religious organizations are private organizations, and function under private law. For example, a body of public law does have the constitutionally guaranteed right to hold mass on TV, to have contributions collected by the state, to reach religious education as an obligatory class in schools. Others, like Buddhists, Mormons, Freikirchen  etc., who are private, do not have that constitutionally guaranteed privilege. Or have you ever seen a Mormon, Buddhist, Hare Krishna ... service on Sunday morning on German state TV? On the contrary, German state TV is full of "educational" broadcast in which highschool students are warned against entering a "Sekte". If you haven't seen it then you probably watch private channels, or do not watch discerningly. Private radio and TV stations also provide clips which have been prodiced "in corporation with Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches" (F. E. RTL brings the "Bible clip" each Sunday at 18.25). RTL has never brought a Koran clip, or a Book of Mormon clip etc., in any way. Preaching shows are forbidden. VOX (private) broadcasts Hour of Power at 8.00 on Sunday morning, which legally violates the treaty on public broadcasting, but I guess there's just nobody who bothers to raise a lawsuit against it. TV adverts for Power for Living by Jamie Buckingham, a book which promotes a view of Christianity different from the concept of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches (I think it's called "new born Christians") got banned because of the the treaty on public broadcasting, which gives the "Churches" influence on what runs on TV. (I think they got scared that people might convert away from the "Churches" and start believing in Jamie Buckingham ... )

Here is a publication issued by the Evangelic Lutheran Church of Berlin, where you can have a look yourself on what and how the "Churches" consider as Sekten: http://www.religio.de/dialog/dialog.html "the current article gives the impression that anything that isn't "the Churches" is considered a sect -" it is supposed to give that belief, because that's the way the majority of German public opinion believes it. German public opinion is strongly anticult, which may even cover "free-churches". Most of the anticult is "Church" agenda. The fact that there 'are members of free-churches and cults and that they live in peace does not preclude the strong public opinion that holds against them. This "Church" agenda shaping of public opinion is supported and funded by the state as the state considers "Churches" a part of itself and necessary to keep up social stability. Thats why the state funds and promotes the "Churches" and the way they shape public opinion.

 * Sorry, but that's just bullsh*t. The churches play a diminutive role in shaping public opinion in Germany. As the article states, only about 6% of the Germans regularly attend Sunday mass, so how would the churches have any ::kind of influence anymore. By the general public, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other "global players" are considered religions. Sekte is a derogative word used only in conjuction with either repressive and/or small sects and cults. --hanszarkow 16:06, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Recently (2005) young Muslim girls who want to live like "Germans" are being killed by their brothers for the sake of "family honour". Would you call this a valid exercice of freedom of religion? --Daddysmutantkid 15:42, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This happens in ghettos, but I wouldn't call thirty dead young Muslim girls (officially reported) last year peanuts, as the tendency is increasing. Also the phenomenom must be seen in context as most muslims do live in ghettos and are instrumentalized by their imams, who want them to claim that significant parts of the German law (like equality, religious neutrality of the state) do not apply to them. Of course, there are also "Westernized" moderate muslims, who do not think like that, but the majority intends to found a "separate culture". You probably should go to a banlieue or a Muslim ghetto to see for yourself. There's a struggle about philosophy and power, which expresses in "symptoms" like the right to wear headscarves or the right to take the kids out of school (in Germany, kids cannot be taken off a school. They must go to a public shool or a private school which has been recognized by the state). In any case, the "clash of cultures" with Islam is a phenomenmon which occurs in most Europen countries. There is no way helping against a phenomenon by saying it does not exist.

''these minority muslim beliefs are more related to traditions (for instance in rural Turkey) than with actual religious obligations. Indeed, the Koran has absolutely no indication that women should be killed if they behave in a Western fashion. So don't mix up religion and tradition. Luis rib 15:47, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)''

Many Muslims do not distinguish the way you claim they do. They claim that "the Koran" requires them to do this or that. As a non-Muslim, I can't say whether this is "true", but neither I nor the courts have to say it. The Grundgesetz does not give courts the right or duty to interpret beliefs or scriptures for their believers, but leaves that to the faithful themselves. The Grundgesetz generally protects all beliefs, also odd ones, and does not evaluate them. For example, if you claim that the Bible or your personal conscience commands you to wear green tennis socks on your head, and you're able to somehow justify that, the courts won't say that your belief is worthless but they will mostly say that it is to be respected and covered by the field of protection of art. 4 GG. --Daddysmutantkid 10:30, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Being aware that this article may need further proof-reading I still remove the "neutrality" tag because I feel that writing an article about religion and conflicts between religions "neutrally" is impossible because one always encounters the risk that somebody may be a member of said religion and feel treaded on his toes. I described the conflict fields of freedom of religion as they're currently perceived by Germans in Germany, and I gave references to the statements. I feel that further "objectivity" in the field of religion is simply an impossibility as religion by nature is not an objective matter. --Daddysmutantkid 13:11, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It is true that in Germany churches are quite active, more than in other countries, in disseminating information about cults, sects, new religious movements and Sekten. Andries 07:25, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Doubtful statements, references please
Please give refrences for the following statements that I find doubtful or too generalizing.
 * 1. "When classifying religious groups, the Roman Catholic and the Evangelical Lutheran Church use a three-step of "Churches", "free-churches" and Sekten [4]"
 * I do not read this in the German Wikipedia that is used as reference. Besides it is my impression that there are some scholars like Christian scholars Reinhart Hummel who worked for the EZW that do not make such crude distinctions. Andries

 * 2."The German government also provides information about Sekten. The official term here is sogenannte Jugendsekten [5] (http://www.cesnur.org/testi/endber/KA1.HTM), as the relevant religious groups are claimed to be especially appealing to the youth."
 * I think the CESNUR link talks not about information by the government but a report by a commission to the government. Andries 07:50, 21 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Besides I read on the website of the "EZW" that the term "Jugendsekte" (youth cult) is obsolete since the 1990s. Andries 08:11, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

I think that a merger with religion in Germany is better
We cannot and should not merge this article in the section Separation_of_church_and_state because that article is already far above the limit of 32k. Instead, I propose to merge this article with religion in Germany. Andries 17:36, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
 * I disagree and no one has acted on it in four months. It is part of a series. I am removing the notice. CalJW 16:08, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Testament challenge - change of religion
This sounds to me like blatant nonsense: anyone is allowed to revoke his testament, to tear it up, or to write a new one which supersedes the old one without any ceremony or permission, only condition is, that the testament is written by one's own hand (source: de:Testament (Recht) Para can be reinstated, if source and context is given (who had to give the permission?) --Irmgard 10:24, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * in 1981, a woman was allowed to revoke her testament, as it was established that her nephew was likely to give the money to the Hare Krishna organization

I looked it up. A was a devout churchgoer. All of her family but her nephew B had "left the church". Shortly before A's death, B leaves the church and joins the Krishnas. A doesn't know this. After her death, her son C who had inherited nothing challenges the testament stating A had made a legally substantial error by leaving everything to C under the [unwritten] assumption that C would always be a member of his church. B wins. (BGH, 08.05.1985 - IVa ZR 230/83) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rafflesiapricei (talk • contribs) 00:32, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

"Power for living", public opinion, and the scope of this article
This article discusses freedom of religion i.e. according to Wikipedia
 * "Freedom of religion and belief is a guarantee by a government for freedom of belief for individuals and freedom of worship for individuals and groups. It is considered by many to be a fundamental human right. Freedom of religion must also include the freedom to practice no religion (agnosticism) or the belief that there exists no deity "

This means that negative public sentiments about a certain group and the influence of mainstream churches on public opinion that have no legal consequences have no place here and should possisbly be moved to religion in Germany. Andries 17:53, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

In Germany, broadcasting is under the jurisdiction of the states (Länder), which passed a state treaty on broadcasting (Rundfunkstaatsvertrag). This treaty bans ads for religions and world-views in its § 7 section 8. Power for Living TV ads did fall under this rule, and hence, were legally banned. --Rafflesiapricei (talk) 20:24, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Sexual education, evolution
Quote from the text: "In Germany, high school students are not excused from classes on sexual education and evolution theory on the basis of religion"

OF COURSE they are NOT, school education is compulsory for everyone. Why would this be an infringement of religious freedom??? I don't think you can opt out of your biology class in the U.S., citing religious reasons...

not everywhere, but you can sometimes —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.164.210.235 (talk) 18:31, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

 * Actually, if parents opt to remove a student from an obligatory class, such as sexual education and evolution parts of Biology classes for religious reasons, it's allowed by the school or state in the US. I know for a fact that Canadian schools allow sexual education to be optional for parental concerns (it's a small subject compared to the entire health education class), but I've never heard of someone opting out of a Biology class for religious reasons, and frankly, I don't think it's allowed here. But you're right, it's not an infringement on religious freedom, because the school has the right to teach whatever they want. Eric Leb 01 (Page | Talk)  23:16, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Seperation of State and Church
A few things about the seperation of state and church in Germany:
 * Church tax (or membership fees, if you will) are collected by the state along with all other taxes. Recognised churches are granted certain legal benefits other organisations are not.
 * The public broadcasting stations (funded with compulsory fees on all broadcasting equipment) have a weekly Christian (Catholic/Protestant) commentary every Sunday as well as, as of lately, a Muslim viewpoint every Friday. This fueled discussions about a Jewish programme every Saturday, hilarity ensued.
 * Church membership (for recognised churches) is recorded on a citizen's ID, terminating one's membership costs (depending on regional law) a processing fee of up to EUR 30 (approximately USD 40 plus change - quite a bit of money for a student) and personal appeal to court, even if one became a member via one's parents while below the age of consent.

Yeah, we're probably better than the Yoo-Ass of Ey, when it comes to seperating state and church, but we're still a long way from the laizism our constitution would suggest.

 * Seperation of church and state is not the same as Laizism. Seperation only means that the state doesn't meddle in church affairs and vice versa. Crucifixes in classrooms or teachers wearing headscarves in state schools is still appropriate as are tv masses. Just as long as neither is ordered by the state. Laizism is about abolishing anything religious from official realms, so no religious insignia in any state buildings or worn by state employees while on duty etc... While I as an atheist wouldn't mind Laizism, the German constituion says nothing about it. --hanszarkow 16:20, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the missing military service section: religious reasons are a valid option for getting out of the military draft and into the civil service, but so are any credible ethical reasons (these days, pre-written statements easily found on the Internet fully suffice, although they wouldn't pass a thorough inspection). Also many religious organisations will reject self-proclaimed atheists (though this practice could be blown with a single trip to the court) even if they employ Christians of other confessions or Jews, Muslims, etc. - at least that's what fellow draftees have experienced when trying to apply and stating their lack of faith. -- 62.143.91.113 14:09, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Germany to "look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line..."
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53457

Germany has a legal duty to attend schools. You can send your kids to a denominational school.--Rafflesiapricei (talk) 17:31, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Neutrality, Citations
Introduction: Please proof the tagged sentences, some of them seem dubious. Wispanow (talk) 09:38, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

 * You surely don't expect me to provide a reference for the fact that Germany has a church tax whereas France and the USA don't, or do you? Of course, if there is a church tax collected by the state in a country, that country's concept of separation of church and state must be weaker than that of a country which doesn't have a church tax. I'll see if I can find a wikilink to an article on German history, though. Zara1709 (talk) 11:49, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

 * Tagged for missing citations. Large swathes of text are unsourced and give the impression of having been written from personal knowledge and belief, rather than source-based research. -- JN  466  12:06, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * It is not neutral to call a concept of separation of the Church and the State "weaker" than another because it includes the possibility of an agreement between the Two (as is the collection of the church tax) for reciprocal profit (Church: no need of offices, State: a percentage of the income). --91.34.221.236 (talk) 15:15, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Copy edit
Completed a copy edit, removed a few excessively NPOV-infringing sentences, added a tag, and a few other things. As an atheist and antitheist, I really like seeing that Germany has an open mind to everyone's rights, while taking down those who infringe on others (for example, Scientology). Nice material, but add sources to back them up. Eric Leb 01 (Page | Talk)  23:09, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Murderous Satanists and neo-Pagans
"as this religion requires the killing of humans. Problem fields of this are the Satanistic and neo-Pagan religions."

I'd like to see sources on Satanists or (even more so) neo-Pagans requiring the killing of Humans (that doesn't come from a fundamentalist Christian). This is just utter nonsense.

80.171.41.26 (talk) 08:36, 7 April 2011 (UTC)
 * It has since been removed. Angr (talk) 00:16, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Jewish shops
Why are Jewish shops in Germany closed on both Saturday and Sunday? --84.61.188.59 (talk) 16:37, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Because the law on shop closing times (Ladenschlussgesetz) says shops must be closed on Sundays. --Rafflesiapricei (talk) 17:25, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

unhelpful reference
In the aricle, the reference to http://www.bfg-muenchen.de/cruzifix.htm does not mention the case. Am I missing something? Ideally, a pointer to the official court decision or contemporary reports of the decision should be there. --Javaweb (talk) 18:50, 11 September 2011 (UTC)Javaweb
 * The reference has been removed. Angr (talk) 00:18, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Right to silence
"pastors [of religious corporate bodies under public law] are protected by confidentiality (the priest-penitent privilege); as a result, they may refuse to divulge information in court statements, which are entrusted to them by parishioners."

Wrong. Priest-penitent privilege extends to all ministers as long as they act "in pastoral care" – right to silence of a Yazidi minister – BGH, Urteil vom 15.04.2010 – 4 StR 650/09 (LG Münster, 18.06.2009); in: NStZ 2010, 646 ff. Link — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rafflesiapricei (talk • contribs) 23:53, 13 September 2011

Exemption from military service
The exemption from military service is based on conscience not religion. While religion may or may not play a role in that, depending on the individual, German law clearly uses the words "gegen sein Gewissen" (against his conscience). This is different than in the US, where conscientious objection must be based on religion. It comes under "freedom of religion" in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which does not mention anything about military conscription. If the German Constitution wanted it narrowly based on religion, it would have mentioned explicitly. Bostoner (talk) 23:55, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Freedom of religion in Germany. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110906021058/http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/organisation/vb_merkblatt.html to http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/organisation/vb_merkblatt.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090305161053/http://www.bundestag.de/wissen/analysen/2007/rechtliche_fragen_zu_religions-_und_weltanschauungsgemeinschaften.pdf to http://www.bundestag.de/wissen/analysen/2007/rechtliche_fragen_zu_religions-_und_weltanschauungsgemeinschaften.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121007125140/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country%2C%2C%2C%2CDEU%2C%2C48d5cbdac%2C0.html to http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country%2C%2C%2C%2CDEU%2C%2C48d5cbdac%2C0.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 23:15, 24 May 2017 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Freedom of religion in Germany


text:
Coffin Texts

The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial new material related to everyday desires, indicating a new target audience of common people. Coffin texts are dated back to 2100 BCE. Ordinary Egyptians who could afford a coffin had access to these funerary spells and the pharaoh no longer had exclusive rights to an afterlife.

As the modern name of this collection of some 1,185 spells implies, they were mostly inscribed on Middle Kingdom coffins. They were also sometimes written on tomb walls, stelae, canopic chests, papyri and mummy masks. Due to the limited writing surfaces of some of these objects, the spells were often abbreviated, giving rise to long and short versions, some of which were later copied in the Book of the Dead.

Content
In contrast to the Pyramid Texts which focus on the celestial realm, the coffin texts emphasize the subterranean elements of the afterlife ruled by the deity Osiris, in a place called the Duat. An Osirian afterlife is offered to everyone, and the deceased is even referred to as "the Osiris-[name]." This subterranean realm is described as being filled with threatening beings, traps, and snares with which the deceased must contend. The spells in the Coffin Texts allow the deceased to protect themselves against these dangers and "dying a second death".

A new theme recorded in the coffin texts is the notion that all people will be judged by Osiris and his council according to their deeds in life. The texts allude to the use of a balance, which became the pivotal moment of judgment in the later Book of the Dead. The texts address common fears of the living, such as having to do manual labor, with spells to allow the deceased to avoid these unpleasant tasks.

They combine ritual actions intended as protection, expressions of aspiration for a blessed existence after death and of the transformations and transmigrations of the ba and akh and so on. In addition there are descriptions of the land of the dead, its landscape and inhabitants. These include the Sekhet Hotep (Field of offerings or peace), the paths of Rostau and the abode of Osiris.

Examples
Coffin text 1130 is a speech by the sun god Ra, who says: ''Hail in peace! I repeat to you the good deeds which my own heart did for me from within the serpent-coil, in order to silence strife ...'' I made the four winds, that every man might breathe in his time ... I made the great inundation, that the humble might benefit by it like the great ... ''I made every man like his fellow; and I did not command that they do wrong. It is their hearts which disobey what I have said ...'' I have created the gods from my sweat, and the people from the tears of my eye. Coffin text 1031 is spoken by the deceased, who replies: I shall sail rightly in my bark, I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky. I am not afraid in my limbs, for Hu and Hike overthrow for me that evil being. I shall see light-land, I shall dwell in it ... ''Make way for me, that I may see Nun and Amun! For I am that Akh who passes by the guards ...'' I am equipped and effective in opening his portal! ''As for any person who knows this spell, he will be like Re in the eastern sky, like Osiris in the netherworld. He will go down to the circle of fire, without the flame touching him ever!''

The Book of Two Ways
A few coffins from the Middle Egyptian necropolis of el-Bersheh (Deir El Bersha) contain unique graphical representations of the realm of the afterlife, along with spells related to the journey of the deceased through the Duat. This collection, called the Book of Two Ways, was the first example of an Ancient Egyptian map of the underworld. The Book of Two Ways is a precursor to the New Kingdom books of the underworld as well as the Book of the Dead, in which descriptions of the routes through the afterlife are a persistent theme. The two ways depicted are the land and water routes, separated by a lake of fire, that lead to Rostau and the abode of Osiris. The oldest copy currently known belonged to a woman named Ankh who lived during the reign of the nomarch Ahanakht I.

title: Coffin Texts


text: User talk:84.32.116.55

title: User talk:84.32.116.55


text:
Talk:Cochise

Topics
Where did that eerie photo of Cochise come from?! The last time I checked there was NO PROVEN IDENTIFIED picture of the chief to be FOUND, and the only one I ever saw regularly used to represent him was a painting of a much thinner looking man, with a more distressed expression on his face. What exactly is this new photo, anyone know??

That is not a photo of Cochise but of Chatto
That is not a photo of Cochise but of Chatto [LINK REMOVED! see below] This link gives this same photo and the details below: Chatto, Chiricahua Apache. Chatto headed a delegation to Washington for a conference on July 26th, to appeal to the Secretary of War regarding the removal of the Apache from Fort Apache to the panhandle of Oklahoma.

The only 2 representations that I can find that give an idea of Cochise's looks are a photo of a bust and a rather poorly done painting of what he "might have looked like".

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Cochise&action=edit&section=new (the painting)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Cochise&action=edit&section=new  (the bust - which is on the first page of the gallery and looks nothing like this photo of Chatto)

Melohawk

So why does it present it as Cochise? That's a bit confusing... The photo here of Crazy Horse still says it may be Crazy Horse, it doesn't just label it as him.

 * I've removed the image until it's verified - maybe we can get more info from somewhere? -- sannse (talk) 08:42, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

Painting of Cochise Discovered
A few years ago a fellow in California discovered a painting that the experts think might actually be Cochise. I would imagine if you were to search "Cochise Painting Discovered" you would find it.

Addendum 1/9/06: Sorry about that post in the wrong place. In the current issue of Native Peoples Magazine (Jan/Feb 2006) on page 26, there is an article titled The Great Chiefs- Cochise: Warrior and Statesman. There is a photo of that painting along with a photo of Naiche and you can see the resemblence. It says that "While not proven, Cochise historian Edwin Sweeny maintains that it is probably a true representation of the great chief." Hope this helps.

IT´S NOT CHATTO EITHER!!!

According to my knowledge, the man in the picture is Eskiminzin, an Aravaipa-apache chief. Check the book: Alexander B. Adams: Geronimo- A Biography, great book about Apache wars, there is picture of Eskiminzin. And I agree, there is no pictures of Cochise available.

Inserts
Maybe this is a recent trend related to many pages, but I noticed several phrases inserted into the article (last couple paragraphs, for instance) which are obviously inappropriate and unrelated to the article. They seem to be obscene attempts at beta tags, or whatever the signals search engines look for are called. Is there a way to prevent this other than manual editing?

 * You're probably right, but short of protecting the page (which has its own problem) the only thing to do is to watch the page (click on the "watch" link to make it easy). With enough of us watching, it won't be much work for any individual. rewinn 19:05, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Tularosa Reservation
The only data I've found on Tularosa Reservation suggests that it's the Mescalero Res (e.g. http://www.southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southeast/Otero/BentandMescalero.html ). There's already a wikipedia article for Mescalero but it is a bit of a blend of tribal & reservation information, so the link from this page may be confusing. I'm not sure how to improve. rewinn 19:05, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Pronunciation
How do you pronounce "Chochise"? Maikel 12:30, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

 * In regards to "Cheis". I sincerely want to congratulate the Wiki-word for, as usual, conjuring a name seemingly out of thin air. You people are certainly determined on promoting the obscure and the irrelevant.  When are you going to concoct another variant for this poor man's name?

Naiche or Naches?
There seems to be confusion in this article about the name of Cochise's second son. It appears in the text as "Naiche", but in the caption of the photo of him and his wife, his name is given as "Naches". If you click on the image, the file summary then gives the name as "Naiche", but lower down in the information given alongside the thumbnail image, the name again appears as "Naches". Is this due to difficulty rendering an Apache name accurately into English?

Solaricon (talk) 22:30, 14 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, he's also Wei-chi-ti. Right? Don't you just love the wonder Wiki versions of the world?  Make up anything you want; then, "prove" that it's "fact".

Cochise and Mexico?
Hi! Your addition to the opening of Cochise seemed a bit unfounded. So I changed "Mexican" to "American", as this seems more likely. Please add a source for any conflict between Cochise and the Mexican government. Best of wishes.--Paracel63 (talk) 11:15, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the catch and correction- I was not paying attention to the date at that point, and was thinking of his conflict with the Mexican gov't. Parkwells (talk) 13:45, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 11:58, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Popular Culture
If you're going to mention that Cochise appeared as a character in a "Bonanza" episode, then you should probably mention its semi-spinoff "The High Chaparral" series. The character physically appeared five times in its four seasons and was mentioned by name many times more than that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.31.46 (talk) 20:59, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

I've forgotten the show but there's a sci fi show from around a decade ago with an alien they call Cochise in honour of this original Cochise. The alien helps the humans understand the aliens' struggles and lets them work towards peace even though their peoples are at war. It's not a throwaway reference, Cochise is one of the regular cast for two or three years of the show. I don't recall what show or the exact details though. 82.18.205.199 (talk) 02:26, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
 *  Falling Skies  . Yes, I guess it should be cited too; I'll let someone more familiar with the article (and the true Cochise) do it though (Gcrvo (talk) 18:44, 30 November 2020 (UTC))

Biography changes
Instead of edit warring, please explain and provide supporting reference(s) -  Mlpearc  ( open channel ) 18:38, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

The Mayor of Tuscon Arizona in a newspaper article for the stated that "Cochise" was a mispronunciation of his true name "Chiz". Chiz means wood, and the great Apache Chief was frequently addressed as "Mr. Wood". "Chiz was so named from being so dull in boyhood, wooden headed like."

"That is not..."
Comment 2, "That is not a photo of Cochise...": the first outlink is bogus! It may have been replaced by a spammer, but it takes you to a gambling site, fronted by a small child with a bunny. Contrary to my usual policy of not editing "TALK" pages, I have removed the SPAM outlink as deleterious to Wikipedia rags (talk) 17:12, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

Bust by Betty Butts
The bust by Betty Butts contradicts the last sentence of Cochise's biography. I don't know who Betty Butts is, or when she made the sculpture, but could she have known what Cochise looked like? If not, I don't think it should be in the infobox. She is mentioned here.  Tony Holkham   (Talk)  22:02, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cochise


text:
User:Yuzuru~enwiki

See the French user page fr:Utilisateur:Yuzuru

title: User:Yuzuru~enwiki


text:
Eric Coble

Eric Coble is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is a member of the Playwrights' Unit of the Cleveland Play House.

Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. Before turning to playwriting, he received his BA in English from Fort Lewis College in Colorado, and his MFA in acting from Ohio University.

Career
Coble's play, The Velocity of Autumn premiered on Broadway on April 1, 2014 (previews), officially on April 21, 2014, at the Booth Theatre, starring Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella, directed by Molly Smith. The play was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Estelle Parsons received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. The play had its debut at the Boise Contemporary Theatre before moving to Arena Stage, Washington, D.C., in 2013.

The Spanish version, La velocidad del otoño, premiered at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Madrid in December 2016. It starred Lola Herrera and Juanjo Artero and was directed by Magüi Mira.

His play Bright Ideas opened Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Class Company, directed by John Rando, and has since been published by Dramatists Play Service, with dozens of productions across the U.S. His stage adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver (published by Dramatic Publishing) has had over 300 productions on three continents. Other work includes Natural Selection (published by Playscripts), For Better (published by Samuel French), The Dead Guy (published by DPS), Virtual Devotion, Cinderella Confidential, and Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede (all published by Dramatic Publishing).

His plays have been produced in 50 states of the U.S., and on six continents including productions at The Kennedy Center, Manhattan Class Company, Actors Studio, Playwrights Horizons, The Denver Center Theatre Company, Arena Stage, The Edinburgh and New York Fringe Festivals, South Coast Repertory, Laguna Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Public Thaeatre, Indiana Repertory, Coterie Theatre, Asolo Rep, Curious Theatre, Geva Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Dobama Theatre, Stages Repertory, Great Lakes Theater, Coterie Theatre, Boise Contemporary Theatre, Habima Theatre (Israel), Pentacion Productions (Spain), Teatr Polski (Poland), Orange Row (Mexico)and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival.

Awards include an Emmy nomination, the Steinberg New Play Award, two American Alliance for Theatre and Education Distinguished Play Awards for Best Adaptation, the AATE Award for Distinguished Play (2022), the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, two TCG Extended Collaboration Grants, Aristophanes Award for Best Off-Broadway Comedy, First Place in the Southwest Festival of New Plays, Heideman Finalist for Actors Theatre Louisville, three Best of the CATCO Shorts Festival Awards, the Cleveland Arts Prize, two Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Creative Workforce Fellowships, and four Ohio Arts Individual Excellence Awards.

title: Eric Coble