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 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?
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…
>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.
We have this problem on an iMac (2019), after upgrading to Monterey. Mail when launched, steadily ramps up memory usage until we receive the .. system has run out of application memory message then mail crashes. I've tried everything I've seen posted, without success. Ran Disk First Aid, now trying on OS re-install. Apple needs to get this problem identified and patched quickly.
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
I have the same issue too. running new M1 chip mac13 air, even after upgrading to Monterey,same problem. I get it even with only 4 apps open: pages, notes, safari, music,
at some point it will force quit the apps for me, without consent.
everything was running smooth until this!
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?
I am the originator of this thread - I am running Monterey 12.0.1 and have not had the problem in a month or so. My original problem was terrible on Catalina (and started happening only in 2H 2021), and then appeared infrequently once I upgraded to Monterey, but has been a non-issue for the last month or so. No difference in my usage patterns. Go figure.
Sounds like i should not upgrade to 12.1 (from 12.0.1).
Do you happen to know if it's the Apple silicon version of chrome or the intel version? just wondering. mine is the Apple silicon version. i wonder if switching back to the intel version would change anything.
Version 97.0.4692.71 (Official Build) (arm64)
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.
Hi! I've got a basic early 2015 "Macbook Air" model with 8GB RAM that started giving me the "Your system has run out of application memory" screen shortly after updating to macOS Monterey 12.1.
I keep using the same set of applications for about 10-15 years – these days it's mostly a few tabs in Safari, one or two documents in Pages and TextEdit, Mail and that's what takes it for the message to pop up. The most basic set you could imagine. But yes, I also put my computer to sleep by closing it often and then have it wake up by physically opening up the Macbook, as some users experiencing the same problem reported, so that may have something to do with it.
Spent like two hours reading various pages linked in this thread but I can't seem to figure out the problem. Sometimes in Activity Monitor there's multiple processes called "Safari Web Content (Cached)" or a process named after the website (e.g. a process named "https://mail.google.com" – your basic Gmail) that seem to grow to a few hundred megabytes but wiping out the cache, restarting Safari, rebooting the computer, even resetting the NVRAM memory etc don't help. In the end the problem always comes back sooner or later.
I'm puzzled and would like to point out this really is a bug: Apple made computers 20 years ago that handled more than this. Reported the problem to Apple. As usual thank you kindly to anyone who might figure out a solution.
Your system has run out of application memory
