Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

This memory leak bug is killing performance in MacOS Monterey

By David Matthews Published November 1, 2021

Apple’s newest desktop operating system, MacOS Monterey, brings a handful of useful new features, but an assortment of issues as well. Some people are reporting memory leaks after upgrading to MacOS Monterey — some of which have even included warnings that the entire system has run out of memory.

While new operating system rollouts tend to have a few bugs, this one seems particularly bothersome. Memory leaks occur when an application uses more memory, or RAM, than is necessary. This happens because the process in question doesn’t release the memory that’s allocated to it after it’s closed and continues to use more memory, sometimes until there’s none left.

The Software Update screen in MacOS Monterey. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

There have been a number of complaints across multiple forums, including Apple’s own support forums, Reddit, and Twitter. YouTuber Gregory McFadden tweeted a picture in which Control Center was using a whopping 26GB of RAM. By comparison, Final Cut Pro was only using 6GB of RAM, and that’s a full-fledged professional video editing program. Control Center normally only uses a couple of megabytes of RAM.

Recommended Videos

The issue doesn’t seem to be limited to a particular Mac model either. Users with M1, M1 Pro/Max, and Intel versions have all reported memory leaks. One Firefox user with an Intel Mac reported Firefox usage of almost 80GB of RAM. While some users like Gregory McFadden had upwards of 64GB of RAM installed, a lot of others will likely have much lower RAM and will feel the pinch of a memory leak more acutely.

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

This isn’t the only major issue with MacOS Monterey. Those with older Macs who install the new operating system are at risk of bricking their computer. Many of the users reported Macs that simply wouldn’t turn on at all after upgrading. While there does seem to be a temporary fix, that requires access to another Mac.

Lest the Windows faithful get cocky, Windows 11 users have also reported memory issues. Windows Insiders found that File Explorer consumes memory even after being closed. We were able to reproduce the leak on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. Fortunately, it seems this is limited to just the File Explorer and not random programs like MacOS’ issue.

Regardless, the memory leak on MacOS Monterey could just be the teething signs of a new operating system. Apple will hopefully issue a patch to fix the leak, although MacOS memory leaks seem to be a common occurrence. At any rate, it may be worth holding off upgrading your Mac for now.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…

Computing

9 macOS Sequoia features every Mac user should know

macOS Sequoia being introduced by Apple's Craig Federighi at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024.

Apple’s macOS Sequoia operating system launched with a whole heap of interesting new features, and there’s a lot to try if you’ve just recently updated your Mac. But which new additions are worth your time, and which can be passed over?

That’s the question we’re aiming to answer today. We’ve scoured macOS Sequoia to find the nine key features that every Mac user should know about. From Apple Intelligence to iPhone Mirroring, these are the tools and technologies that you’ll want to try next.

Computing

I tried $550 smart glasses with my Mac. They felt better than the Vision Pro

Viture One smart glasses atop MacBook Air.

A lot has been said and written about how Apple missed the mark with its AI efforts. It's pretty obvious that the current status of Apple Intelligence and Siri assistant is functionally way behind what you can accomplish with Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Gemini suite.

Interestingly, Apple also lost the market edge in the wearable XR segment. The company’s first foray was the Vision Pro, an uber-expensive technical marvel that failed to create the same kind of buzz as the company may have expected.

Computing

Apple is right to make iPadOS more Mac-like, but I’ll never buy an iPad that runs macOS

Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro.

Do you use a Mac or an iPad? Huge numbers of people use both, yet there are growing calls for Apple to merge the two devices into some kind of all-in-one super product. I’m not one of those people -- in fact I think it would be a terrible idea -- and I’m determined to steer clear of any hypothetical iPad that runs macOS.

Over the past few years, Apple’s best iPads have grown closer to the Mac. We’ve seen the devices get outfitted with Mac-grade chips like the M4, gain macOS-like software features such as Stage Manager, and gain increased compatibility with mice and keyboards.