‘Your system has run out of application memory’ error caused on Macs by Mail and other apps

guest · Nov 1, 2021

‘Your system has run out of application memory’ error caused on Macs by Mail and other apps
November 1, 2021
https://9to5mac.com/2021/11/01/your-system-has-run-out-of-application-memory/

A number of Mac users are seeing an error message: “Your system has run out of application memory.” The error is caused by app using gigabytes worth of memory – reporting more usage than the Mac has, until it eventually crashes. Culprits include Mail and Final Cut Pro.

The exact behavior varies. In the worst of cases, a user cannot change focus from the alert window, requiring a forced restart …
Dismissing the window achieves nothing as it will immediately reappear.
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On my M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB unified memory, it climbed well above 32GB before Mail crashed – in one case indicating more than 100GB. Other users have seen the same thing with other apps.

Not sure why I keep getting these warning on my M1 Max. I’m not doing anything crazy with it pic.twitter.com/B0o7t2jtN0
— Tyler Stalman (@stalman) October 28, 2021
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I haven’t yet seen enough reports to know whether this is a specific issue with Apple Silicon Macs, or whether Intel machines are also affected.
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guest · Nov 15, 2021

PSA: Monterey app memory leak isn’t just caused by an accessibility feature
November 15, 2021
https://9to5mac.com/2021/11/15/monterey-app-memory-leak-solution-suggestion/

The Monterey app memory leak affecting many Mac users is being blamed by some on a specific accessibility feature – but that isn’t the sole cause …
Background on Monterey app memory leak
Although the application memory error has been seen for some time, there appears to be a specific bug in macOS Monterey 12.0.1 that has it affecting many more people.

A number of Mac users are seeing an error message: “Your system has run out of application memory.” The error is caused by an app using gigabytes worth of memory – reporting more usage than the Mac has, until it eventually crashes. Culprits include Mail and Final Cut Pro […]
The bug affects both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
Click to expand...

Accessibility feature isn’t the only culprit
Almost since we reported the bug, I’ve seen suggestions that one specific accessibility feature is to blame: a larger or higher-contrast pointer.

If you made changes to customize your mouse pointer and specifically the color choice—restore the defaults and compare your results.
This theory first came from Mozilla.

On macOS 12 Monterey, using a non-standard cursor size or colors causes a large memory leak in Firefox. Firefox version 94 includes a fix that reduces the memory leak, but the problem can still occur. The problem has been reported to Apple and a fix is expected in a future update to macOS 12.

Workaround: until a newer version of macOS 12 is available with the fix, use the standard cursor size and colors. In macOS 12 System Preferences, select Accessibility, then Display, then Pointer. Set the pointer size to normal and reset the pointer colors by clicking the Reset button.
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‘Your system has run out of application memory’ error caused on Macs by Mail and other apps

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