macOS 26 Tahoe: System runs out of application memory (M4 Pro, 48 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD)

I've had this happen three times now. Twice this morning, with the second one happening only about 20m after I restarted the computer to clear the previous one.

This never happened on the previous OS, and I've had this Mac for for over a year (M3 MacBook Pro with 36GB memory)

Hope they fix this very soon...

Having the same problem for the last couple of weeks. Macbook Pro M3 Pro 18gb RAM runs out of memory 10 times a day and I have to kill nearly every process. Never had an issue with Sequoia. Cant find a fix... This is a massive problem for me.

Same out of memory issue on my MacBook Air, M1 2020 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Tahoe 26.0.1. Upgraded last week. Safari, Mail, Calendar, Zoom, Print Center all paused. Only other 3rd party apps are Chrome and Microsoft 365 but were not open. Very annoying as it took 5 minutes to force quit and restart/shut down. Fairly frozen unless Finder window open.

Out of an abundance of caution, I'm opting to shutdown my M1 Air between work sessions. It's too worrying coming back to it piping hot and all apps paused.

Has only happened for me during an overnight Sleep Mode.

Severe Storage Issue After macOS Tahoe Upgrade

Since upgrading to macOS Tahoe, I’ve been experiencing major storage issues. Initially, I assumed it was user error, so I wiped and reformatted my drive, but the problem persists.

Today alone, without installing or doing anything significant, my available space dropped from 140GB to 77GB, nearly half my drive vanished simply by waking the laptop. I’m still seeing heavy system data growth and limited app installation capacity.

Please investigate and provide a fix. This issue is extremely disruptive and concerning.

I have continuously dropped in Hard Drive space since my last comment. Originally, after reformat, having installed everything I currently have, I was at 140GB, after a few hours, doing absolutely nothing but entering wake mode, I was down to 77 GB, and having installed nothing new since, I am down to 23 GB? I have no idea what is going on, it is definitely a problem on Apple's end, not mine. I have not had any issues like this until updating to the newest version of Tahoe.

How much FREE space on your SYSTEM DRIVE?

It looks like your issue may be caused by a full drive rather than lack of available RAM.

No, obviously no.

Please stop sending this messages out of the blue.

I think everyone in this thread hope that this issue will be handle as soon as possible by Apple engineers. Receiving responses like that just make me lose more time and it makes me questioning about the future of this OS, the more time pass the more it get unstable.

cristiano106 wrote:

I think everyone in this thread hope that this issue will be handle as soon as possible by Apple engineers.

You stated that Android Studio soaks up >50% of your memory then pauses. Why would Apple engineers fix what appears to be a memory usage problem with Android Studio? What did the AS devs say when you brought this issue to their attention?

cristiano106 wrote:

How much FREE space on your SYSTEM DRIVE?

It looks like your issue may be caused by a full drive rather than lack of available RAM.

No, obviously no.

Please stop sending this messages out of the blue.

You may think whatever you like.

I can assure you that most of the cases where the user "runs out of application memory" are NOT due to lack of memory, but of disk space. Maybe that is not your case, but since you mentioned only 20GB used out 36GB, it stands to reason that lack of memory was NOT the problem.

I think everyone in this thread hope that this issue will be handle as soon as possible by Apple engineers. Receiving responses like that just make me lose more time and it makes me questioning about the future of this OS, the more time pass the more it get unstable.

I do hope it gets resolved, but most people do not experience it, so maybe there is more to it than a "bug".

Thank you for something legitimately helpful.

I have to say that I don't see exactly what you've described - can't "turn off" mail accounts, but can delete an account. I had four, and deleted them in Settings. Restarted, opened mail, and it's running (with no accounts) at 86 MB. I've re-added three, and it's running at a tranquil 180-250 MB range.

Two won't re-add, because Google is throwing a tantrum with them. That's a separate problem to solve.

guardamarco wrote:

Chrome had no problems until I updated to Tahoe... why do you guys focus on the pointer, rather than the moon?

Because it's the responsibility of 3rd party developers to keep their software fully compatible with new versions of macOS, not Apple's responsibility to ensure that all 3rd party apps and extensions function properly with each update. Applies equally to Mom&Pop's Recipe App and Google (but while one could argue Mom&Pop don't have the resources to keep up, that argument falls flat for Google).

As for Chrome, it's a personal choice to run software from a developer who's main revenue stream is selling data on your personal activities and behavior, and it's a personal choice to install software that installs a variety of background 'helpers' that run even with the app is not active (to help themselves to your information). I choose 'no' to that, personally.

When dozens of users report the same problem and the only response is "Apple is great, Apple is fair," I see a lot of similarities with a religious sect...

Third-party developers don't invent things, they follow the operating system manufacturer's guidelines; evidently in this case (as has already happened in the past with other Apple-related applications, by the way), the guidelines differ slightly from reality.

guardamarco wrote:

Third-party developers don't invent things, they follow the operating system manufacturer's guidelines; evidently in this case (as has already happened in the past with other Apple-related applications, by the way), the guidelines differ slightly from reality.

So, let me see if I understand you. Apple is responsible for making sure thousands, tens of thousands of developers follow all of Apple's guidelines? Apple is responsible for making sure that all of those developers download the developer betas for new operating systems that are released almost a year ahead of the final release? Apple is reponsible for making sure those developers keep up with their reading of the technical nformation Apple puts out? Apple is responsible for making sure that all of those developers have employees who don't make mistakes? Apple is responsible for making sure all of those developers genuinely care that their products work properly?

One last thing, can you explain exactly how Apple is able to exercise this authority?

guardamarco wrote:

When dozens of users report the same problem.

There are two billion Apple users in the world. “Dozens” of users with the same problem doesn't even register on the bug-fix meter. Try again.

guardamarco wrote:

Oh sorry, I thought it was a place to help users who were having problems, not a religious post

It is. Of course, some people prefer to view it as a place to blame Apple for the problems they are having with 3rd party software they've chosen to install on their system. Maybe Google can help you.

https://support.google.com/chrome/?hl=en#topic=7439538