run out of application memory

Question

Level 1

8 points

run out of application memory

Ever since I updated to Big Sur, I keep running out of application memory from Safari, it says it's using 40+ GB of memory, many times over 55 GB, causing it to force close. I don't use much other than Safari, so this really shouldn't be happening. This happens every day or two, and it's become very inconvenient. I tried a method where I clear all the Safari cache, but it isn't help at all

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Jan 6, 2021 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Jan 8, 2021 3:11 PM in response to simcha225

Hello simcha225,

It sounds like you are unable to use Safari as it says it's running out of application memory.

Here are some resources, troubleshooting and isolation tips that might help:

Check for any extensions, plug-ins or add-ons If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues
Restart your Mac: Log out, sleep, wake, restart, or shut down your Mac
Check the Activity Monitory or anything that might stand out there: View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac
Create a test user to see if it is something only related to your user account. This will help identify things such as user specific settings that could effect this. Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac
Test in safe mode as it can help you determine whether issues you’re experiencing are caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up. Start up your Mac in safe mode https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/start-up-your-mac-in-safe-mode-mh21245/mac

Hope this information helps.

Have a good day.

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Answer 2

judysings

Community Specialist

Jan 11, 2021 2:26 PM in response to simcha225

simcha225,

Thank you for the additional information. Isolation will be key to resolving this. It could be the case that this is virtual memory. Along with the isolation steps above, you can also check how much storage you have on your Mac, How to free up storage space on your Mac. Also, verify that this happens when Safari is the only application open. While the error shows Safari, if it only happens when a combination of apps are open, this can help isolate what's happening as well.

Have a great week.

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Answer 3

simcha225 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 10, 2021 8:10 AM in response to mingoslkd

Hi, thanks for your help. For now I restarted my computer, we'll see if that helps.

There are 2 things I don't understand. How can Safari use 55 GB of memory if my computer only has 8 GB of RAM? Also, I never had this issue once in 6 months before upgrading to Big Sur, and since Big Sur I run out of application memory almost daily.

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Answer 4

tomazdes

Level 1

4 points

Jan 19, 2021 6:52 AM in response to judysings

I too have this problem with Big Sur 11.1 on a 2018 iMac. It only occurs when I'm using Safari, and it does occur with no other apps in use. I have a 1 Tb hard drive with over 700Gb free and 8Gb Ram. I have only had this problem since updating to Big Sur.

Safari shows as using 64Gb!!! Sometimes Safari crashes after giving the message. Restarting does not help neither does clearing the caches.

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