Your system has run out of application memory

Hi friends! This issue has been driving me BONKERS but I think I may have solved it. I am by no means a techy person at all, so I'm not really sure why or how this worked but I thought I would share it.

I am using a 2018 MacBook Pro with Monterey 12.0.1 installed, and as soon as I started using this new operating system I was constantly getting the alert "your system has run out of application memory" but none of the apps listed in the alert window were using more than a few hundred MB and I barely had anything open so I was super confused as to why this was happening. I have 330 GB available of 1 T memory as well.

I did some digging and googling and realized I needed to be looking at my activity monitor to see all of the processes currently running on my computer. Upon opening Activity Monitor, I saw that "WindowServer" was using 33.78 GB (for reference the next largest process was Chrome at 300 MB), so I double clicked it and even though I had no idea how important this process was and if doing this would erase my whole computer or something crazy, I was so frustrated with this issue that I selected "quit."

The computer went black for a few seconds and then came back with everything else still open and running just fine. "WindowServer" was now only showing around 100 MB. I have waited a few days to see if the problem was indeed solved, and so far I haven't had any issues! "WindowServer" is still below 500 MB (it fluctuates) and I have not had the "your system has run out of application memory" once since then whereas it was literally popping up every 10 minutes before. I still don't know what "WindowServer" is and to be honest I don't care, I am just relieved to finally be able to use my **** computer properly. I hope this helps some of you dealing with this issue too!

If you are getting "Your system has run out of application memory" dialog boxes, and a list of most likely innocent apps listed, then here is the explanation.

For the record, there are 2 reasons for the "Your system has run out of application memory" dialog box.

A) Your boot disk has very low free storage, and macOS cannot create page/swap files to offload virtual memory contents to disk. This is generally not the case, but I mention because if you do have very low free storage, it might apply.

B) A process (or set of processes) have asked macOS for excessive amounts of virtual memory address space. Virtual memory address space requires macOS to create Virtual Memory Page Tables in the kernel address space to keep track of the application virtual addresses given out. Generally, if there is a memory leak (process asks for a virtual address range, uses the addresses, forgets to give them back, asks for another virtual address range, uses the addresses, wash, rinse, repeat), eventually there are so many virtual memory page table entries trying to keep track of the virtual addresses, that macOS no longer has memory available for applications, and you get the "Your system has run out of application memory".

If you look at Applications -> Utilties -> Activity Monitor -> View (menu) -> All Processes -> Memory (tab), you can see what processes are using lots of memory.

You can also issue the following command from Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal:

ps ax -o vsz,pid,comm | sort -n

which will display the virtual memory used sorted so the largest virtual memory consuming users are at the end. The virtual memory sizes are in 1024 byte units.

NOTE: I have seen situations where no single process is using all the memory, but rather a host of smaller processes are using up all the virtual memory. That is to say, a 100 instances of the same program all running with a moderate amount of memory eventually adds up to a lot of page table entries being used.

I have also seen users with 100's of web browser tabs open, where each tab is being managed by its own separate process. And just because you are not looking at any give tab, does not mean the Javascript running on that web page, is not taking up memory and virtual addresses.

>Bob, your instructions are not a solution. You need to dig deeper and revise it.

Since I cannot access anyone’s system, I can only explain why the message occurs. The owner of the system is the one that has to dig.

Remember, I do not work for Apple, and I’m just an unpaid volunteer in these forums. And I do not make house calls.

janana01 wrote:

I would love to do it but i don’t work for apple. Tens of people are complaining it’s obviously a systemic bug. What are YOU doing to resolve this issue? Thank you

By the way. This is a user-to-user technical support forum, with unpaid volunteers providing help.

You are not talking to Apple.

If you wish to talk with Apple you can use this link Get Support

Or you can send Feedback to

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

Or you can get a free https://developer.apple.com account and file a bug report.

But the volunteers here can only provide help in the way of suggestions and education. We do not have access to any internal Apple information, nor systems, and we definitely do not have access to your system.

Which is why you have to do the investigation, as we have no way to do that for you.

revoltforhealthcare wrote:

You did not. Why would this be happening with ANY app on a brand new M1 Mac with 16GB? It is ridiculous and a major Apple flaw!

A) I'm still not an Apple employee. B) I did not write any of this software. C) I volunteer my time here. D) I may consider requests, but I do not take "Demands" for my time.

Why would you getting "Your system has run out of applications memory" dialog boxes could be because you installed some 3rd party software that is misbehaving. I know from the company where I do work, that McAfee anti-virus package frequently goes bananas and consumes 10's of gigabytes of memory, and none of the McAfee background processes will be listed in the error dialog box, which is why you have to use Activity Monitor or the ps command from a Terminal session.

I've also run into applications that spawn lots of processes and while each process does not take a lot of memory, when you have a few hundred of them, they start to add up.

Many users have lots of web browser tabs open, and each of those browser tabs runs a Javascript program. It is not uncommon for a Javascript program to have a memory leak. Not a problem is you visit a page, and then close the window or tab, but if the tab remains open for days or weeks, and it leaks a little be everyday, that adds up.

I do not know how much free storage you have on your system. While most users, especially users that have new systems, tend to have a few hundred gigabytes of free (unused) storage, there are some Macs that do not come with a lot of storage, and users have been known fill up that storage with lots of pictures and movies, and other stuff so that there is very little free storage space left. Low free storage space is the other way this error can be triggered.

And sometimes there are bugs in the operating system. Monterey macOS 12 has a current leak as reported in several web blogs and magazines. Google: "monterey memory leak" and you will find multiple stories. I’m sure that this will be corrected in the future, but as I do not work for Apple, I do not know when that will happen.

Now why it is happening on your system, I do not know, because no one in these forums has access to your system, especially when it is happening (that is a good thing). Which means it is up to you to investigate.

If you still want to return your Mac, here is the Apple Return Policy

https://www.apple.com/shop/help/returns_refund

Assuming you got your Mac after November 1st, you have until January 8th, 2022 to return it to Apple for a full refund (these are the Apple Christmas gift buying and returning rules; then change to 14-days after Christmas Day).

I ran today in the same problem. Got the notification screen about running out of memory. Firefox was using some 18 Gb RAM out of 16 Gb (?).

But I am unsure is Firefox the real problem.

There seems to be apparently Accessibility related background process ’universalaccessd’. The process in question has tendency to grow its memory usage every time the computer wakes up from sleep (+200-500~Mb) to ridiculous proportions (10-12Gb) until the computer is restarted.

I tested it today couple of times. First time with 30 sleep-wake up cycles and the end result was some 8 Gb memory used. After restarting the computer it again started from around 230 Mb memory usage. After uncountable number of S-WU cycles the memory usage had grown up to 12 Gb.

I did some research and tried to find some solutions (restarting, force quiting the process, unselecting accessibility options, uninstalling previously installed apps and stuff) but every time ’universalaccessd’ appears back and starts growing its memory usage.

If you are getting "Your system has run out of application memory" dialog boxes, and a list of most likely innocent apps listed, then here is the explanation.

For the record, there are 2 reasons for the "Your system has run out of application memory" dialog box.

A) Your boot disk has very low free storage, and macOS cannot create page/swap files to offload virtual memory contents to disk. This is generally not the case, but I mention because if you do have very low free storage, it might apply.

B) A process (or set of processes) have asked macOS for excessive amounts of virtual memory address space. Virtual memory address space requires macOS to create Virtual Memory Page Tables in the kernel address space to keep track of the application virtual addresses given out. Generally, if there is a memory leak (process asks for a virtual address range, uses the addresses, forgets to give them back, asks for another virtual address range, uses the addresses, wash, rinse, repeat), eventually there are so many virtual memory page table entries trying to keep track of the virtual addresses, that macOS no longer has memory available for applications, and you get the "Your system has run out of application memory".

If you look at Applications -> Utilties -> Activity Monitor -> View (menu) -> All Processes -> Memory (tab), you can see what processes are using lots of memory.

You can also issue the following command from Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal:

ps ax -o vsz,pid,comm | sort -n

which will display the virtual memory used sorted so the largest virtual memory consuming users are at the end. The virtual memory sizes are in 1024 byte units.

NOTE: I have seen situations where no single process is using all the memory, but rather a host of smaller processes are using up all the virtual memory. That is to say, a 100 instances of the same program all running with a moderate amount of memory eventually adds up to a lot of page table entries being used.

I have also seen users with 100's of web browser tabs open, where each tab is being managed by its own separate process. And just because you are not looking at any give tab, does not mean the Javascript running on that web page, is not taking up memory and virtual addresses.

I have a iMac M1 running macOS 11.6.1 with 16GB of memory and a 1TB SSD of storage on the system board. Today is the first time I've seen Your system has run out of application memory while using Big Sur on the M1.

If it occurs again I'll try to see what applications are using VM. Thanks for the tip.

As I stated in my reply, usr Activity Monitor and the ps command to figure out which processes are using all your virtual memory.

if the offending process(es) are not obvious, then you have to dig through the ps output and see if there is a group of processess adding up to a collective worse offender.

once you know what, you can decide if you can change your behaviohr, renove the softeare, get a vew version, etc…

geotech4044 wrote:

.... Apple needs to get this problem identified and patched quickly.

Since this is a user-to-user technical support forum, and Apple is not reading replies for input, you can try using

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

Daniel_145 wrote:

Thanks to everyone who keeps posting. Just to clarify, the problem hasn't disappeared in the past few months since I posted in the thread. I just started permanently closing all applications throughout the day as soon as I don't need them, generally keeping Safari tabs to 4-5 max, rebooting once or twice a day... it's like being back in the 1990's.

As for what BobHarris posted: from what can I tell most of the times it's Safari that creates 10-15 different processes, each gradually using gigabytes of virtual memory. Doesn't really matter if you don't have anything on your hard drive, it will eventually eat up all the space, I've already cleared my Mac of everything else than text documents but it's never enough. Since Safari is an Apple-created app and I'm dealing with the hard-drive that I bought my Macbook with I really don't see what I could do to fix the problem other than keep rebooting constantly. Usually before the "Your system has run out of application memory" message appears you'll see like 15 processes named like this upon typing the "ps ax" command in Terminal.

136464540 27290 /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

As far as I remember the problem started with the new version of macOS and Safari.

macOS Monterey, Version 12.2.1, Safari Version 15.3 (17612.4.9.1.8)

I'd be so grateful if anyone found a solution. Sorry to keep bugging you all!

NOTE: It could be the web sites. Just about every web site runs Javascript, and the sites you are visiting are leaking memory.

If you are on an older macOS version, then upgrading to a newer version would give you an updated Safari.

You could also try an alternate web browser. Firefox, Chrome, Brave, Edge, etc...

fenskelynch wrote:

Hi Bob! Thanks for helping dig into this problem. I have a BRAND NEW M1 that I purchased one week ago. It's got 16MB RAM and I'm getting this error too. When I check the Activity Monitor, it tells me that I have plenty of RAM available and no processes are using an excess. But I still get the error. I am running Monterey 12.0.1. Any further thoughts?

A) There is a known memory leak bug in Monterey 12.0.1. You should upgrade to 12.1 (this version has been out for about a week). System Preferences -> Software Update

B) There should be a process (or several processes) that have excessive memory usage. If the apps listed in the "Your system is out of applications memory" dialog box do not show excessive memory usage, then make sure when using Activity Monitor, you set the Activity Monitor -> "View" menu to "All Processes", otherwise, it will not show you the daemons, agents, and other background processes.

C) And do not forget that if your internal SSD (NVMe) storage has too little free space, you can also get this dialog box. Since you say you have only had your M1 for a week, I'm suspecting maybe you have not run out of storage, unless you migrated a lot of data over from a previous Mac, and have basically filled up your internal SSD (NVMe) storage.

The "Google Chrome.app" ships with the executable compiled with BOTH intel and ARM binaries in the same file (a Universal app).

So there is no separate intel ONLY Chrome app.

In Big Sur there used to be a way in the Finder -> file -> Get Info... dialog to force the app to run under Rosetta 2, but Monterey does not have that option any longer.

You might be able to use this article to strip the ARM code from the Google Chrome Universal binary

https://eclecticlight.co/2020/07/30/instant-weight-loss-how-to-strip-universal-apps/

Make a copy of the Google Chrome.app and experiment on that.

I'm also seeing it repeatedly in the days after upgrading to 11.6.1.

16GB RAM, 1TB SSD with 222GB free, MBP Pro 15-inch.

I have not changed my usage pattern or installed new apps, and Activity Monitor is not showing memory hogs or large numbers of browser processes .

I'm guessing it is related to 11.6.1, and hoping 11.6.2 will bring relief.

dootah wrote:

I'm having the same problem too. Didn't have it in my previous macbook pro running even more applications and it was definitely with a lower configuration. I have 64 Gigs of Memory and over 1TB of storage, so I'm not sure what the system is crying about. I'm guessing it's a bug and Apple hasn't yet thought about fixing it.

Read and follow the information here

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253310137?answerId=256190283022#256190283022

This will help you to identify the app, or more likely the background daemon or agent that is causing your problems. While it could be an Apple bug, it could also be a bug in an 3rd party program that has not been updated for your new macOS release, but is tripping over something that changed. It is difficult to tell unless the cause is identified.