NEW MacBook Air M1 8gb 256gb: "your system has run out of application memory"

ok, I audited my safari plugins, and turned off a couple I didn't use very often, and also turned off "dark reader" which I'm pretty sure I aded this summer. (I started getting the "out of application memory" message this summer). I'm starting to leave more apps open, and I haven't gotten the message again since disabling those plugins! so this may be the solution. will post again if I get the message again. so thank you, Halliday, for talking me into trying it!

Activity monitor, over time, is staying in a range between 3gb and 6.something gb of App memory used. I've never seen it hit 7 yet, and I have 26 apps showing in my dock, with 17 safari tabs distributed among about 8 safari windows. no errors, everything is running just as fast as when I only had 4 apps open. I can live with bright white web pages at night.

I am new to Mac's, but was concerned when I got this message (see picture) on my IMAC M1 with 8‑core CPU, 8‑core GPU and 16‑core Neural Engine, 8GB unified memory, and 1 TB SD.

I was looking at other peoples comments and it sounded like GB of space were being used, where for me, I had barely anything open with just under .2GB being used and I was running out of application memory. Any thoughts are helpful, as I said I am new to Apple, and have very little computer knowledge. Thanks

I have tried uploading my picture here, but it won't do it.

MJBookless wrote:

I am new to Mac's, but was concerned when I got this message (see picture) on my IMAC M1 with 8‑core CPU, 8‑core GPU and 16‑core Neural Engine, 8GB unified memory, and 1 TB SD.

I was looking at other peoples comments and it sounded like GB of space were being used, where for me, I had barely anything open with just under .2GB being used and I was running out of application memory. Any thoughts are helpful, as I said I am new to Apple, and have very little computer knowledge. Thanks …

Using Activity Monitor, on the Memory tab, with the View set to “All Processes” (rather than the default of “My Processes”) will show you the memory usage of the processes running on your machine.

You can even reorder the processes by whatever criterion you choose.

Since all (truly) modern Operating Systems (OSs) use Virtual Memory, the amount of Random Access Memory (RAM) you have, on your system, has little bearing, except for the performance decrease that swapping memory between RAM and your Virtual Memory (VM) drive will incur.

Generally speaking, one will not be, actually, running out of “application memory”, unless, and until, your Solid-State Drive (SSD), upon which your VM drive resides, runs out of space.

Unfortunately, I have seen cases where Big Sur seems to get “confused”, and “thinks” it is on the verge of running out of space, even when such doesn’t appear to be the case.

If you can reproduce such situations, it would be helpful to report such to Apple, as a Bug Report.

…

I have tried uploading my picture here, but it won't do it.

In order to upload a picture, you need to click on the “picture” icon/button just to the left of the “YouTube”-like button, at the bottom of your Post window, when composing a post.

I have a MacMini M1 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. It's the top model of their M1 architecture and I have to tell you guys: DON'T UPGRADE FROM YOUR 8GB TO 16GB, BECAUSE I DO HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM (and I have 16GB).

It's 1st October 2021 and I see messages about this issue dating back Dec-2020. It's very disappointing that Apple didn't do a **** about this for almost a year already.

I have a brand new M1 MBP with 16gb of memory and 176gb free on my SSD. Yet I am getting this same "Your system has run out of application memory" multiple times a day. More often than not, this error message pops up while my computer is not in use and is the first thing I see when I log back in.

The only high memory usage I could foresee is Google Chrome tabs and Mail. None of the Intel-based apps I use (of which there are very few) show high memory usage.

When I worked with Apple Support, they simply opened up Activity Monitor to show that the memory was in high use (13gb/16gb). Then they encouraged me to reinstall macOS.

In the past two weeks, my machine has already been reformatted and freshly installed 3 times—all related to issues with the M1 chip that appear in these support fora.

I indicated to Apple I have installed no new applications and that my usage is in no way different from my old 2017 MBPR with 4gb memory. On that machine, I never once in years received this warning.

Apple Support told me this is not a known issue and they are not aware of this issue coming up in Apple Support community fora.

No idea whether Apple actually reads any of these, but does seem from a very cursory search of these fora as well as Google and Reddit that many, many people are complaining about this on their M1 machines—with Apple's solutions seeming to be throwing more money to upgrade memory to the amount of memory I have or more (despite users with 16gb and 32gb memory also complaining about this issue).

Welcome, Dash_, to Apple Support Communities!

Why would you think that Safari should be a part of this issue?

Have you taken a look at Activity Monitor, on the Memory tab, with the view set to “All Processes”, rather than the default of “My Processes”?

This will help you see what processes are taking up much of your Virtual Memory (VM).

Note: How much Random Access Memory (RAM, AKA “Physical Memory”) processes are taking up is rather irrelevant.

However, whether VM is causing your drive (SSD) to be close to “filled up” is quite relevant!

Note: If the Memory Pressure graph stays Green (or even Yellow), while you receive your "Your system has run out of application memory." error, then we are, likely, seeing an Operating System (OS) issue.

Otherwise, take a look at what processes that are using a large amount of (Virtual) Memory (AKA “Swap”).

(As for the heat issue, that will be, most likely, associated with CPU usage. However, there is a possibility of Wi-Fi or other wireless power use.)

Appreciate the reply.

I didn’t say safari should be a part of this issue.

Others did.

I’m pointing out that it’s seemingly not what’s causing my issue.

Aside from that, I usually I arrive on wake to see the error message. The system is back to operating normally and everything is in the green by then.

As of late, I’ve just resigned to powering off completely when done.

It’s not really a workflow setback at the moment, but more like a mental discomfort.

I’m glad to hear that it’s not too great an issue, for you, at this time, Dash_.

We’ll be having macOS 12, soon, but it is always best to resolve current issues before upgrading an Operating System (OS).

Abhisyal23 wrote:

I am having the same issue on my MacBook Pro M1 8gb 512GB. Never had this issue on my Intel MBP. Really disappointed. …

The issue, we have found, is not inherent in the macOS, but can be caused by any of a number of (third-party) background processes; especially old Intel based code, run in the background.

.

… Also, MB M1 does not support 2 [external] screens and I can't get over it.

This was expressed in the documentation you can read even before you ordered.

I've found a reliable workaround; two steps:

First, as soon as I get the "out of application memory" notice, I close the notice, and close all my screen sessions inside terminal, close DEVONthink, then reboot. rebooting gets the system back to a good state. it never occurred to me this would be necessary, but it seems to be.

Second, once I've rebooted, my m1 works reliably for between 8 and 10 days, with no "out of application memory" notices, so I'm starting a new habit of rebooting each friday morning.

you can see from my posts in my thread, I keep a ton of applications and websites open all the time, and a week seems a reliable time period to go without errors.

none of this explains why I was able to go the first six months or so of ownership without ever having this problem, but at least I have a reliable workaround now.

Halliday wrote:

… Also, MB M1 does not support 2 [external] screens and I can't get over it.

This was expressed in the documentation you can read even before you ordered.

I've actually got 4 screens running off my 13" MB1 (incl the laptop screen itself). I'm using the Dell D6000 docking station and 3 external monitors (2 DVI and 1 HDMI connection). Uses DisplayLink technology and seems to work fine. Sometime a little slower when I have 4-5 big spreadsheets open, but makes life much better.

DonHartUK wrote:

Just to add I have a M1 MacMini and experience same problem but for me Lightroom Classic is the memory hog " 8gb

That doesn’t sound like it should be a problem.

I have created Numbers documents that caused my Virtual Memory (VM) usage to exceed 32GB, on my M1 Mac mini (with 16GB unified memory).

Is your M1 Mac mini a 16GB or 8GB version?

Having all your unified Memory (RAM) used up is, absolutely, no problem at all!

In fact, if such is not being fully used up, you are not, fully, using your computer’s resources!

DonHartUK:

That should not be a problem, unless you have very little SSD space for Virtual Memory (VM, AKA “Swap”).

How much drive space do you have Available, for your VM Volume? (It should be on the same drive as your “root” Volume, and the Free space is shared with the other Volumes on the Drive.)

If you run Activity Monitor, on the Memory tab, with the View set to “All Processes” (rather than the default of “My Processes”), what do you see?

Are both Lightroom Classic and Adobe Photoshop 2021 Native M1 binaries?

oh it's definitely a problem, because the OS will start killing apps. I've learned the hard way: once you get this message, you need to close anything that doesn't handle a reboot gracefully, and reboot. luckily I can go 8 or 9 days before I get the message after a reboot, so I'm starting the habit of rebooting once a week.

I'm convinced this is a bug in the memory manager, but only for apple silicon machines. the first six months or so of my ownership I never once saw this message, now I get it like clockwork after the 8 or 9 days of uptime. I'm thinking a bug came in one of the MacOS updates from over the summer.

who knows, maybe it'll be fixed in the next MacOS major version (which is coming out on monday). I'll update as soon as I can, and will skip my weekly reboot, and see if I get the error again.