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Safari 10.0.2 (11602.3.12.0.1) Memory Leak?

I just installed the latest version of Safari onto my MacBook running 10.11.6. Safari has crashed several times and at one point it was using 75GB of memory according to Activity Monitor, it is currently at 24GB, with a single tab open.


Even just sitting watching the memory utilization it constantly climbs, with nothing happening in the browser.


Has anyone else experienced this?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Dec 14, 2016 1:19 PM

Reply
52 replies

Feb 3, 2017 8:42 PM in response to Stephen Donovan

As per this article : See how apps affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity - Apple Support

When an app isn't responding or working correctly, it might use more of the processor (CPU) than it should, even when the app doesn't seem to be doing anything. As the CPU gets busier, it uses more energy, which reduces the time that your Mac can run on battery power. It also generates heat, which can cause the fans in your Mac to spin faster.

Quit any malfunctioning processes

To quit a process, first try quitting it normally. For example, quit Safari by switching to Safari and choosing Safari > Quit Safari.

If you can't quit a process normally, you can use Activity Monitor to force it to quit. Save any documents related to the process, then select the process in Activity Monitor and choose View > Quit Process.

If you don't recognize the name of a process, it might belong to macOS or another process that you do recognize. To see the relationships between processes, choose View > All Processes, Hierarchically. If you see that a process belongs to an app, such as Safari or Mail, quit the app before deciding whether to quit any of its processes.

To help avoid malfunctioning processes, keep your apps, plug-ins, and operating system up to date.

An according to this article : Use Activity Monitor on your Mac - Apple Support

  • Memory Pressure: The Memory Pressure graph helps illustrate the availability of memory resources. The graph moves from right to left and updates at the intervals set in View > Update Frequency. The current state of memory resources is indicated by the color at the right side of the graph:
    • Green: Memory resources are available.
    • Yellow: Memory resources are still available but are being tasked by memory-management processes, such as compression.
    • Red: Memory resources are depleted, and macOS is using your startup drive for memory. To make more RAM available, you can quit one or more apps or install more RAM. This is the most important indicator that your Mac may need more RAM.
  • Physical Memory: The amount of RAM installed in your Mac.
  • Memory Used: The total amount of memory currently used by all apps and macOS processes.
    • App Memory: The total amount of memory currently used by apps and their processes.
    • Wired Memory: Memory that can’t be compressed or paged out to your startup drive, so it must stay in RAM. The wired memory used by a process can’t be borrowed by other processes. The amount of wired memory used by an app is determined by the app's programmer.
    • Compressed: The amount of memory in RAM that is compressed to make more RAM memory available to other processes. Look in the Compressed Mem column to see the amount of memory compressed for each process.
  • Swap Used: The space used on your startup drive by macOS memory management. It's normal to see some activity here. As long as memory pressure is not in the red state, macOS has memory resources available.
  • Cached Files: Memory that was recently used by apps and is now available for use by other apps. For example, if you've been using Mail and then quit Mail, the RAM that Mail was using becomes part of the memory used by cached files, which then becomes available to other apps. If you open Mail again before its cached-files memory is used (overwritten) by another app, Mail opens more quickly because that memory is quickly converted back to app memory without having to load its contents from your startup drive.

For more information about memory management, refer to the Apple Developer website.

Jan 6, 2017 11:50 PM in response to ShirsenduK

Hi


Your procedure worked for me too! Thank You!


Only one comment ... the Option key in the UK is referred to as the Shift key.


Once relaunched Safari took a few minutes to re-establish itself. I thought I had lost all my Bookmarks but they eventually reappeared all by themselves. I did not want to import them from a Time Machine (TM) backup, which I created just before performing your procedure. A TM backup is an essential step.


You obviously understand the 'memory leak' problem. What does your procedure do exactly and why does it work? I performed a clean install of Sierra 10.12.2 (twice) but it did not cure the problem. I have also tried many suggested repair procedures but all had failed. However, your procedure succeeded. Why?


Perhaps you also know why the problem occurred in the first place? Was it something to do with the update from 10.12.1 to 10.12.2? I never had the 'memory leak' problem with 10.12.1. It begins to look like an oversight by Apple.


Regards


Phil.

United Kingdom

Jan 7, 2017 11:31 PM in response to Stephen Donovan

Hi Esquared


I was replying in the context of the problem. I was making the point that ShirsenduK's solution, which has worked extremely well, requires a slight modification to his/her procedure. In order to use the Finder 'Go' facility it is necessary to use the Shift key, that's the one below Shift Lock key on most keyboards. Try it! Select Finder 'Go' and repeatedly tap the Shift key. You should see 'Library' entry repeatedly appear/disappear from the 'Go' pulldown list. I am of course using a British/English keyboard but I accept you maybe using a different keyboard/mapping, which could involve the 'Option' key, which we in the UK call the 'Alt' key. This key is on the bottom row of my keyboard and is wedged between 'Cntl' and 'Cmd' keys. Since I don't know what keyboard/mapping you use, I accept that your 'Option' key (my 'Alt' key) might well produce the the alternating, now-you-see-it, now-you-don't effect WRT the Library entry in the Finder 'Go' pulldown list. I rarely use the Finder 'Go' shortcut myself having been using Apple Mac's since 1985. I kind of know where things are and I can access the Library (either one) in 2 - 3 seconds without the aid of shortcuts. I guess the Finder 'Go' is for newbies.


I hope this clarification will assist others with the Safari 'memory leak' issue. It worked for me but with a slight modification to the procedure. I accept that the Finder 'Go' and the appearance of the Library option in the Finder pulldown list might well be triggered by a different key. Maybe the Opt/Alt key does indeed function like the Shift key with other keyboards/mappings but I have no experience of these alternative layouts. All that matters is that the procedure works well! I just wish I knew why it works! I am left with the feeling that Apple may have made an oversight WRT my Mac' model when they published 10.12.2. I had no problems with 10.12.1 on any of my 5 MacBook Pros but when I updated to 10.12.2 on the Mac' I am using at the moment, Safari went crazy. It would launch OK but it had to be Force Quitted every time. My 8GB of RAM was leaking at about 100MB per minute. Following this procedure cured this odd behaviour. Hope this helps!


Regards


Phil

Jan 15, 2017 1:44 PM in response to Stephen Donovan

I have the same issue as I have posted above, have tried all the suggestions and still no luck. Removed all library files associated with Safari and restarted. The app opened with a clean page with the "welcome to Safari" - no saved favorites - nothing yet still had to "force quit" and currently is using 4.45 GB and steadily rising, 4.68 GB in the time it took to write this.

I did run EtreCheck and Malwarebytes, found two adware issues which I deleted. No other problem other than EtreCheck indicated Safari was using 98% of the CPU.

Feb 17, 2017 11:40 AM in response to Eric Root

I'm doing everything you said, but the library folder won't show itself. I click on the library box in the pop up view window, and I tried Control-J, which only causes the pop up view window to open, not the library. So what else can I do, and why did Apple go and hide the library, that was pointless, and drove me crazy until an Apple tech had me open it, but now it won't even do that, for some strange reason.

Feb 17, 2017 8:12 PM in response to ShirsenduK

I got a brand new MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM for Christmas, and have been fighting this issue since I first set it up. My applications would freeze due to lack of memory (error message) with just one or two tabs open in Safari. This is with 1TB hard drive and none of my files or applications moved to the computer yet. I am so glad I found your post. This solved my issue. Thank you!

Mar 1, 2017 9:46 AM in response to Stephen Donovan

Thanks to all that found the Safari Memory Leak solution. After spending several hours with Apple Techs over 3 weeks and likewise no answers, even after they claimed they had sent problem to their Apple Engineering. Your answer provided step-by-step procedure that after executing, Safari restarted with memory usage stable at 57MB and no increasing memory usage. Thanks for excellent assistance!


Larry Barlar aka Barlow

Mar 28, 2017 3:50 PM in response to ShirsenduK

Thanks much ShirsenduK, this seems to have done the trick, for now at least. Of course an innate memory leak may come back but the beachball has vanished. Apple genius was no real help. Spent almost two hours and ended up with what was only a temporary band-aid - hilling some extensions. A huge waste of time. I am assuming Apple knows about this and it must be fixed. Millions of Mac users are basically hapless unless they get into this forum.

One suggestion - make sure it's clear in your method (17.) that the Macintosh HD directory is NOT the User directory - might confuse some. But hey, typing this in a rejuvenated Safari.

Russ

Safari 10.0.2 (11602.3.12.0.1) Memory Leak?

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