I'm running Firefox since many years on many macs. With a new Macbook Pro M2 I installed firefox. After some time it occupies all memory and the mac asks me to close Firefox. I checked the memory use with the application that follows up (Moniteur d'activité in French) and each time I open FF it occupies rapidly all the available memory.
Has anymone had similar memory issues with FF?
Rigas
MacBook Pro 13″
To avoid the question / answer and question answer scenario
Suggest the User starts with the Top Suggestion and test.
Thereafter, move down to the next and test again.
If you want to skip to the Last suggestion - your choice and do so.
Keep on going in the Order that they have been presented or until you reach the Final Suggestion
Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.
Safe Mode will also eliminate Third Party Software, extensions and drivers from loading. It will only load the Minimum amount of Core Apple Processes to allow the the computer to function at a reduced Level of Performance
Does the issue present in this mode ?
Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.
If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.
If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.
Download the Application Etrecheck ( External Link ) directly from the Developer.
The Application is Not a " Silver Bullet " and is only a tool to examine the Hardware / Software used on this computer
This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer Hardware / Software used on this computer
The application is free or paid from added features.
The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information.
Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - >>>> using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last ) <<<<
Not in Firefox or Safari running Sonoma 14.3.1
How may Tabs are open in Firefox
Use the Activity Monitor application and make sure to use View >> View All Processes
What process or processes are using the Most CPU and Memory.
Often times - the issue maybe not a single Process alone but a combination of Processes
Also, when the computer is using so much CPU / Memory - it can be an indicator of a Lack Of Empty Space on the Drive.
In which case, the CPU and Memory usage would become much more because it is searching for Empty Space to save all the Changes the user is performing.
Thank you PRP_53
but none of these options seems to help.
This happens with only one tab open !
After FF is open in less than 2 minutes it occupies around 45 Gb and the systme pop up a window saying I need to close some applications. Microsoft Word occupies 352 Mb.
The drive has 995 Giga bytes and only 433 occupied.
I check the Activity Monitor, it is Kernel_task that works mostly (passing very quickly from 1800 reactivations to very few or even more than 2000). Winodw_server is next most used process.
Thank you HWTech
I launch a "blank" page, only one tab, no previously saved state. All browser extensions are de-activated.
Thanks I'll try the safe mode, then the second account. And report
Rigas
When launching Firefox, are you also reopening all previously open windows & tabs? Most likely one or more of them is causing a problem. Try launching Firefox without opening any previously saved states. If even that still has a problem, then you need to try to launch Firefox with a default profile or a new profile....I'm not sure how that is done.
Edit: Maybe the problem is with a browser extension or plug-in.
Firefox in macOS Ventura 13.6.4 eating all memory available for apps
