Does application memory mean you have run out of memory space on your computer? How can you add more application memory?

Does application memory on your iMac mean you have run out of memory space on your computer? How can you add more application memory?

Posted on Dec 2, 2021 4:22 AM

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Posted on Dec 2, 2021 5:09 AM

You'll get this message when your startup drive is very full.


MacOS will use some of this disc space for application memory when RAM space is low. When the system can't find sufficient drive space it will let you know with this warning.


You can mitigate this by keeping your drive space available - some say about 10%.

5 replies

Dec 24, 2021 11:43 AM in response to ku4hx

I'm running Monterey 12.0.1 on an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) with 8 GB of memory and a 1 TB harddrive, 698 GB available, and still get this error message on occasion. The one I got this morning, I was running Music, Mail, and Chrome (3 tabs open). Running Activity Monitor now, the largest one is called "WindowServer" 1.46 GB. I've checked and my pointer color is set to default colors (as mentioned in another thread as a possible browser memory leak issue). Whenever I've encountered this in the past, I've rebooted the system and seem to be fine for a few weeks before it reappears.

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Does application memory mean you have run out of memory space on your computer? How can you add more application memory?

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