Some users are reporting memory leak issues after upgrading their Mac to macOS Monterey. A memory leak is when a specific macOS application or process stays running in the background for a prolonged period, eating up abnormally large amounts of memory.
Affected Mac models vary. However, it appears that the range of Macs affected is wide, and even affects the recently-released 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook models. Twitter, Reddit, MacRumors Forums, and the Apple Support Communities users report that their Mac is warning that the system has “run out of application memory” or they are seeing certain applications using huge amounts of RAM in Activity Monitor.
YouTuber Gregory McFadden shared a screenshot of Control Center using up to 20GB of RAM on their 64GB M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. Other users are reporting similar experiences on the MacRumors Forums and Reddit.
So glad I got 64GB of memory on my new Mac so I can use 26GB of it for control center… Wait… what. pic.twitter.com/inCOPaii1o
— GregsGadgets (@GregoryMcFadden) October 28, 2021
Other users are seeing issues with Mozilla Firefox using huge amounts of memory. One user reports seeing the browser use close to 80GB of RAM.
https://twitter.com/y80481629/status/1453305283317354496
More widespread is users across different Mac platforms seeing a pop-up that reads: “Your system has run out of application memory.”
Some users have suggested that restarting the Mac helps, while others say the pop-up reappears shortly after.
