Q: Ipad air low memory crash

I have figured out what is going on with IOS7.  There is a memory leak with the operating system where memory becomes unavailable to the ipad.  I noticed this when using a memory monitor.  When I started to experience low memory issues with the Mercury browser, I looked at the monitor.  Mercury has a setting that warns of low memory conditions.  Only 1/2 of the available system memory, of 1 gig, was even available to the OS.  This included wired, active, inactive, free, and used memory.  The counts shown did not add up to even close to 1 gb.  After repowering the device, the memory added up to 1 gb. 

Apple, if you read these comments then report what I just stated to your engineers.  I can easily reproduce my findings and report them in screenshots to you.  Please fix this problem. 

I have seen the same problem. There is a memory leak with the operating system where memory becomes unavailable to the ipad.  I noticed this when using a memory monitor.  When I started to experience low memory issues with the Mercury browser, I looked at the monitor.  Mercury has a setting that warns of low memory conditions.  Only 1/2 of the available system memory, of 1 gig, was even available to the OS.  This included wired, active, inactive, free, and used memory.  The counts shown did not add up to even close to 1 gb.  After repowering the device, the memory added up to 1 gb.   I am not sure which apps are causing the problem.  I would assume that the memory manager releases memory as needed but does not make it available to the OS again.

So as I understand this is only a problem of incorrect programming of the operating system to the detriment of memory?!
The memory freed once is not made available for the resource is applying more than expected and automatically crashes due to lack of memory.
Right?

Thanks

Andrea

You are correct in your understanding.  Now, what I don't understand is why Apple can't recognize the problem and fix it.  Perhaps 7.1 will address the issue.  They are not very forthcoming with product issues.

Joe

I have been on the phone and throgh emails with Apple support and they are finally starting to say that they are seeing this on all ipads with iOS 7.   The next problem they will run into if they do fix the memory leakage error and how the memory manager isnt releasing the memory back to the OS, is on devices like the ipad mini which only has 512mb of RAM, on a freshly set up device as new with nothing enabled, the iOS 7.0.4 is consuming roughly 65% of the total available RAM on those devices.  So even if the memory leakage is fixed, you still have an iOS that is making some devices obsolete.  Which is just not right!

Wemdog

IOS7 has an apparently much larger footprint than IOS5.  IOS5 will run on a 512mb device with few problems.  IOS7 becomes problematic on such devices.  As you stated, it is consuming a lot of resources for itself.  Part of the limitations of the ipad setup is that it does not use a swap file.  I'm not sure of the type of flash memory the device uses but I do know that it is quite slow, much slower than solid state drives that are currently sold in laptops.  It is not feasible to use it in such a manner.  Also, the limited write life cycles may be a problem even with wear leveling.  Apple needs to release a consolidated version of IOS7 that not only fixes the memory leak problem but also reduces the size of the OS.  This could probably be done by turning off unneeded processes.  A lot of processes are started that are not needed to run the system.  Also, perhaps they could optimize the size of the OS to make it smaller and more efficient. 

Joe

Yes my wifes iPad mini ran just fine on iOS 6 but is running into huge stability issues on iOS 7.   My wifes iPad mini also has everything disabled that you can, no siri, background app refresh, icloud is off, itunes matching and syncing is off, everything is off that can be, it is run in a bare bones stripper model, and when you use a memory scan program on it, 60-75% of the ram is being used just by the OS, this has been verified in 2 different apple stores as well.

Hi Sorry Fabio, i didn't articulate this properly. What i meant was that in my Diagnostics & Usage section there are 4 low memory warnings but none of them caused the iPad to crash or soft reboot.

I realise this may not be the situation for other users or developers so am only speaking for myself when i say this but i am now very convinced that final release 7.1 will cure this whole issue

<Edited By Host>

Gordy, thank you very much for your reply. :-)

My Memory Info app has shown free memory as low as 25mb after a Safari freeze, and as much as 652mb after closing all apps and "optimizing" memory.  This is on iPad Air ios 7.04.

Gordy

How did you get the beta version of 7.1?

I found out that the memory monitor that I have been using creates its own leaks.  This undermines some of my observations.  I am using a different monitor that is stable.  It is System Monitor Ultimate and is free in the App Store.  Mercury was complaining of low memory when the monitor showed plenty of memory.  The difference was that the page out count went up.  If any experts read this message, please tell me if IOS7 writes pages to flash or does it dump the page?  I am reading conflicting information on this topic.

Now, I am beginning to wonder if this is a memory leak problem or not.  Safari just crashed.  A moment ago I viewed the monitor and it showed plenty of free memory.  As I stated before, the other monitor creates its own leak, so it cannot be trusted.  I have 6 tabs open.  It crashed when I responded to the last inquiry through the email client.  What I did notice was that the page out count went up a couple hundred or so pages.  Perhaps there is a problem with how IOS7 is handling this.  If it is now real paging then it is dumping the pages.  It could be dumping pages that are critical for the app to continue, Safari in this case. 

Hey caughy.

7.1 is available on the developer programme. I would normally have waited as 7.0 beta was a nightmare, but 7.0.4 was driving me nuts with crashes so I'd have done anything to move forward, even beta. I can't comment on the leaks as not technical enough

I would also like to say:

I have an Air with iOS 7.04.

Prior to November 29, 2013 I had approximately 3 to 4 unexpectant crashes to home screen a day and approximately 12 low memory logs.

After November 29, 2013 to this date, I have had a total of 4 unexpectant crashes to home screen total in over a month and a half.  I have presently 3 low memory logs.

I did not change the way I use the Air and I did not shut off any features.

My Air was wiped clean and iOS 7.04 was hard wire re-installed on November 29, 2013. I use my Air 9 to 10 hours a day.

My senior advisor told me after asking again: (my case is still open and my logs were sent to the engineers from iTunes)

1. Wifi updates of iOS 7 will send a smaller file, sending only what the given Air detects it needs.

2. A clean wipe and hard wire install of iOS 7 sends the entire full file.

He said this is verifiable and can be seen by their engineers and may explain why my Air has improved.

He also mentioned that it is a known issue, that there may be memory leaks and the engineers are working on a solution.

Etype2,

That is also what my senior support person told me.  I have done hard wipes and reinstalls of iOS7 both wifi and wired and I am still getting the same errors.  My support person also told me that they are getting more and more of these complaints, and are looking at a memory leakage issue.   I doubt there will be an update unless they roll out 7.1.4 beta...

Wem