Hi-
"Your system has run out of application memory"
I have started receiving this error(?) message frequently of late. Can't understand why - I have 16GB of RAM and activity monitor typically shows plenty of RAM available. How do I fix this annoyance?
Thanks.
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
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 apologize I wasn’t aware you are not working for apple. It’s hard to believe there is not an official apple response on a mission critical problem that clearly effect many people? Thank you for volunteering and trying to help. For what it’s worth I updated the Os to 12.2 and so far no pop up. Hope it helps.
Frustrating that this issue has been around well over 6months now with no fix. Fingers xed for next os update.
Our current workaround is using cleanmymacx app ( recommend for all apple users!) and clicking on " Free up memory" in the dashboard. Saves having to quit and restart apps to clear cached app memory usage.
Ironically, I switched to edge and my memory usage I saw on chrome went down quite a bit, so far screw chrome. Edge is based on chromium anyhow
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.
One of our employees received her brand new iMac M1 with 16mb of memory. She got the same error yesterday. I've attached it. Chrome appeared to be the culprit. There were no extensions other than google's. She onIy had five tabs open and they were all related to work. I had them restart the browser and clean the cache. So we will see.
We purchased quite a number of these machines in order to upgrade the employees' aging ones. So, I wonder how long before this shows up on the other ones?
janana01 wrote:
I have the same issue on MacBook Air m1 2020 16GB RAM. Mac OS Monterey 12.1
honestly, I buy apple so I don't have to worry about this stuff so this is so disappointing. is there a recall or a fix for this? unable to use the computer for work.
You have something in the background that is consuming memory, or you have run out of free storage on your boot device.
Go back to the first page of this thread, and read my reply. Then follow the instructions to diagnose what is causing your issue. Is it no storage left on your boot disk or is it a background task consuming all your memory.
Monterey memory leaks: https://eclecticlight.co/2021/11/15/montereys-memory-leak-and-how-to-avoid-it/
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.
I just received my M1 Max 10/32c with 32GB RAM and am for the first time seeing this issue. I'm a reasonably heavy After Effects user and Monterey appears to be having problems managing the memory here. Whether this is Adobe or Apple remains to be seen but judging as other users are experiencing the same problem without mentioning Adobe I'm inclined to believe the issue is with OS X. This isn't something I've seen in the 15 some years of using this professionally even with 4/8 or 16GB of RAM my previous machines. Hopefully this can be fixed in a. future update.
I am getting this message constantly after updating to monterey, along with other issues with this new os. it shows certain applications using GB of memory even when those applications don't have any files open in them. I haven't changed a single thing in my workflow other than upgrading to monterey. none of the explanations have helped so far as I can clearly see which applications in the list are using the high GB but there's no explanation on how to reduce their footprint. clearly an issue with monterey that needs a fix asap as I can't get any work done with my whole system repeatedly crashing!
(I'm the original poster on this thread) I'm on Monterey 12.0.1 and have not had this problem in at least a month. With Catalina, it started around October 2021 (after having been fine forever before that with the same usage pattern).
I guess I will not be "upgrading" to 12.1 anytime soon.
I have also been having this problem on my brand new MacBook Pro. It happens when almost no applications are running—two or three—Safari, Numbers, and the Finder. It is worse if there are a couple more. I finally did a restart today, and so far it is better, but a brand new computer shouldn't be having really irritating problems like this. OS12.2.1, 8 RAM, 441gig of memory available. My old computer of six years was doing better than this. Not a selling point for Mac.
Thanks Bob. So how do I solve my problem? How do I figure out which program(s) are reserving (as opposed to using) too much space?
>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.
>This is ridiculous. Brand new mac, running only 5 programs - none of which are large editing apps. They are just browsers and small task apps. I'm returning this pos computer
If you read my first reply, I explained why this is happening, and how you can find the offending process (or processes).
But if you want to return your Mac, because it is Christmas season, Apple offers refunds until January 6th (or is it the 8th), assuming you purchased this Mac recently.
Your system has run out of application memory
