www.macworld.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:42d0
Public Scan
URL:
https://www.macworld.com/article/549755/m1-macbook-app-memory-leaks-macos.html
Submission: On November 08 via api from US — Scanned from DE
Submission: On November 08 via api from US — Scanned from DE
Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM
<form class="gsc-search-box gsc-search-box-tools" accept-charset="utf-8">
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="gsc-search-box">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="gsc-input">
<div class="gsc-input-box" id="gsc-iw-id1">
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="gs_id50" class="gstl_50 gsc-input" style="width: 100%; padding: 0px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td id="gs_tti50" class="gsib_a"><input autocomplete="off" type="text" size="10" class="gsc-input" name="search" title="search" id="gsc-i-id1" dir="ltr" spellcheck="false"
style="width: 100%; padding: 0px; border: none; margin: 0px; height: auto; outline: none;" placeholder="Search"></td>
<td class="gsib_b">
<div class="gsst_b" id="gs_st50" dir="ltr"><a class="gsst_a" href="javascript:void(0)" title="Clear search box" role="button" style="display: none;"><span class="gscb_a" id="gs_cb50" aria-hidden="true">×</span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</td>
<td class="gsc-search-button"><button class="gsc-search-button gsc-search-button-v2"><svg width="13" height="13" viewBox="0 0 13 13">
<title>search</title>
<path
d="m4.8495 7.8226c0.82666 0 1.5262-0.29146 2.0985-0.87438 0.57232-0.58292 0.86378-1.2877 0.87438-2.1144 0.010599-0.82666-0.28086-1.5262-0.87438-2.0985-0.59352-0.57232-1.293-0.86378-2.0985-0.87438-0.8055-0.010599-1.5103 0.28086-2.1144 0.87438-0.60414 0.59352-0.8956 1.293-0.87438 2.0985 0.021197 0.8055 0.31266 1.5103 0.87438 2.1144 0.56172 0.60414 1.2665 0.8956 2.1144 0.87438zm4.4695 0.2115 3.681 3.6819-1.259 1.284-3.6817-3.7 0.0019784-0.69479-0.090043-0.098846c-0.87973 0.76087-1.92 1.1413-3.1207 1.1413-1.3553 0-2.5025-0.46363-3.4417-1.3909s-1.4088-2.0686-1.4088-3.4239c0-1.3553 0.4696-2.4966 1.4088-3.4239 0.9392-0.92727 2.0864-1.3969 3.4417-1.4088 1.3553-0.011889 2.4906 0.45771 3.406 1.4088 0.9154 0.95107 1.379 2.0924 1.3909 3.4239 0 1.2126-0.38043 2.2588-1.1413 3.1385l0.098834 0.090049z">
</path>
</svg></button></td>
<td class="gsc-clear-button">
<div class="gsc-clear-button" title="clear results"> </div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</form>Text Content
* Apple
* Mac
* iPhone
* iPad
* Apple Watch
* Apple TV
* Audio
* Accessories
* Software
* Best Picks
* Deals
* Opinion
* Newsletter
* Digital Magazine – Subscribe
* Digital Magazine – Log In
Skip to content
* Menu
*
* Apple
* Mac
* iPhone
* iPad
* Apple Watch
* Apple TV
* Audio
* Accessories
* Software
* Best Picks
* Deals
* Opinion
* Newsletter
* Digital Magazine – Subscribe
* Digital Magazine – Log In
*
Type your search and hit enter
×
search
* Recover Deleted Texts
* iPhone ‘Other’ Storage
* iPhone 13 deals
* Free macOS Apps
* Best Mac Antivirus
* Best Mac VPNs
* iOS 15
*
*
*
*
Home / Mac
News Analysis
MEMORY LEAKS ARE CRIPPLING MY M1 MACBOOK PRO–AND I’M NOT ALONE
I hope Apple is listening.
*
*
*
*
*
*
By Michael Simon
Executive Editor, Macworld Nov 7, 2021 3:15 am PST
IDG
Update 11/6: Since I wrote this column, several Macworld readers have reached
out with similar issues on M1 MacBooks.
For the past 10 months, I’ve used a 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro supplied by my
employer. Most days it’s great, with exceptional battery life and excellent
speeds, and is an overall massive upgrade over my previous 2016 model.
But some days it’s nearly impossible to get anything done. More than any Mac
I’ve owned, this MacBook regularly experiences freezes, crashes, and restarts
that often seem to be related to memory issues. It’s been nearly impossible to
pinpoint a pattern, but I assumed it was something installed on my machine by my
company. After reading numerous reports this week about similar issues, I’m not
so sure.
When Gregory McFadden tweeted that Control Center was using 26GB of the 64GB of
RAM on his new MacBook Pro, the screenshot looked very familiar. While Control
Center never ate up that much RAM for me, I regularly spot spikes when using
Safari and Photoshop Elements and have seen more sporadic issues with Mail and
other apps. Sometimes the issues cause slowdowns that work themselves out in a
few minutes, other times my machine locks up and forces a restart it.
I now keep Activity Monitor open while I work and it’s rare that the memory
pressure monitor isn’t yellow or red. Like most Mac users, I tend to keep
several apps idling in the background—Mail, Music, Safari, Outlook, Word,
etc.—but with the M1 MacBook, I often need to quit apps to free up application
memory. Closing Safari tabs is a regular task necessary to free up memory and
keep my machine running smoothly.
Activity Monitor often shows my memory pressure in the red.
IDG
That’s extremely similar to the MacBook Pro and Monterey issues I’ve read this
week—except I’m still running Big Sur. That leads me to believe it’s a bigger
problem that wasn’t as widely reported until now. Perhaps it’s because
developers tend to be more hyper-aware of things like this or it’s exacerbated
by the extra RAM in the new MacBook Pro, but the number of people experiencing
this issue appears to be growing. And I hope Apple is paying attention.
MEMORY LOSS
When the M1 chip was released, Apple changed the way we think of RAM on our
Macs. As in the iPhone and iPad, the memory was now affixed on the same package
as the system-on-chip. The M1 Pro and M1 Max come with higher memory options,
but the M1 tops out at 16GB and that’s that.
As Jason Snell wrote back when the M1 was released, that tidy system has
benefits: “The M1 processor’s memory is a single pool that’s accessible by any
portion of the processor. If the system needs more memory for graphics, it can
allocate that. If it needs more memory for the Neural Engine, likewise. Even
better, because all the aspects of the processor can access all of the system
memory, there’s no performance hit when the graphics cores need to access
something that was previously being accessed by a processor core. On other
systems, the data has to be copied from one portion of memory to another—but on
the M1, it’s just instantly accessible.”
Warnings like these—which I received while I was writing this article—are
common.
IDG
It’s possible that macOS isn’t managing this unified memory structure properly,
and will continue to allocate RAM beyond what is available without freeing up
RAM that is no longer needed. This is commonly referred to as a “memory leak.”
Performance gradually deteriorates until you need to either wait for the RAM to
clear, force-quit the app, or restart the machine.
Sometimes a warning will appear when no single app is even using that much
memory and other times apps are seemingly using way more memory than is
available. I’ve seen single websites report using as much as 20GB of RAM for no
discernible reason, crippling my machine.
Safari sites spiking memory use happen on a regular basis.
IDG
Maybe now that it’s more of a widespread issue, Apple will figure it out. We’ve
reached out to Apple for comment but haven’t heard back, and it’s entirely
possible that Apple fixes it in a future version of macOS without ever
addressing the issue publicly. That’s what happened with the excessive SSD usage
earlier this year, though that Apple says that was a “data reporting error” and
not an actual problem. The memory bug is an actual issue that needs to be fixed
as soon as possible.
In the meantime, there are a few ways to mitigate the issue. The first is to be
vigilant. As I said, keep Activity Monitor open, and when you see an app’s
memory usage creeping up, address it. You can also use a third-party memory
cleaner that lets you quickly clear RAM. Running that periodically will help
keep your resources available. And finally, stay up to date with the latest
version of Big Sur or Monterey, as a fix will hopefully arrive soon.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may
earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
Related:
* MacBook
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His
obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the
lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come
back in style tbh.
Macworld is your best source for all things Apple. We give you the scoop on
what's new, what's best and how to make the most out of the products you love.
*
*
*
*
* POLICIES
* Privacy Policy
* Cookie Policy
* Member Preferences
* Affiliate Link Policy
* Licensing & Eprints
* California: Do not sell my Personal Info
* ABOUT
* About Us
* Contact Us
* Advertise
* Ad Choices
* IDG Careers
* More from Macworld
* Macworld UK
Macworld Sweden
Macwelt Germany
* Subscribe
*
* Subscribe to the Macworld Digital Magazine
Manage Subscription
Newsletter
Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc.
Explore the IDG Network + PCWorldTechHiveTechAdvisor
Top Of Page
Do Not Sell My Info
Privacy Settings