I have a MacBook Pro 2016, OS Sierra 10.12.5, 16gb memory. Starting about 1 week ago, I get the attached screenshot: The Force Quit box opens saying, 'Your system has run out of application memory'. Whatever application is open freezes and I have to force quit and restart. This happens with no rhyme or reason.
- Free up storage space on your Mac Save space by storing your content in iCloud or using built-in tools to find and remove large or unneeded files. The Optimized Storage features of your Mac help you save storage space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand.
- Click on your desktop or the Finder icon from the Dock. Select the Apple Menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Click on About This Mac. Your Mac breaks down its storage categories as follows: Apps, Movies, Photos, Audio, Backups, and — that annoying, undescriptive category — Other.
Apart from that, it uses a hammer test, sequential memory blocking, moving inversions and many more complex methods to put a heavy load on the RAM. Having said that, the best part about MemTest86 is that it supports all kinds of RAM from DDR4 to DDR2. It’s also compatible with both PC and Mac having UEFI or Legacy BIOS.
“No matter what I do, my Mac is still slow”, an average tech-consultant hears this phrase multiple times a day. Give a person even the most powerful computer, and pretty soon it will be cluttered with apps, extensions, and things that are too much for it to handle. To reverse it, one has to go back and сlean up the mess, removing memory agents one by one. Prepare for a fight — every byte of memory is at stake. So let’s put your Mac on a diet and get it more free RAM to breathe freely.
First, remove desktop clutter. Get a combination of Setapp apps that clear away unneeded desktop files.
Download Declutter Free“Your system has run out of application memory”
How do you know your Mac is low on memory? Floating “rainbow wheels” aside, you may notice your Mac now takes ages to load. You’ll also see many browser applications crashing. You’ll be also thrown warning messages as “Your system has run out of application memory”. To help it, you should first visit the Activity monitor to see memory usage on Mac.
How to check RAM usage on Mac
Go to Applications and type in Activity Monitor in the search bar. This invokes a good old Activity Monitor that should tell how much free memory you’ve got left.
A shortcut to open Activity Monitor:
Press F4 and start typing Activity Monitor in the search bar.
I’ve attached a screenshot from my Mac and as you can see my memory usage almost reached full capacity. Here’s what it all means:
App memory: taken by apps and processes
Wired memory: reserved by apps, can’t be freed up
Compressed: inactive, can be used by other apps
Swap used: memory used by macOS
Cached files: memory you can really use
Notice the colored graph under Memory Pressure. If your graph is all but red and yellow, your Mac is really gasping for fresh memory. It seems counter-intuitive, but “available memory” your Activity Monitor is not that important after all. In fact, it’s a system intended behavior to use all memory resources when available. On the contrary, the Memory Pressure graph is much more telling, so grow a habit to check this graph in the Activity Monitor every now and then.
How to check CPU usage on Mac
Open the CPU tab in Activity Monitor to keep in check CPU-heavy processes. Normally an app would be using 0-4% of CPU. If it takes abnormally more than that, go inside that particular item in the list and press the Quit button.
How to free up memory on Mac
Tip # 1. Remove Login Items to lower Mac memory usage
Login items are programs that load automatically upon Mac startup. Some of them covertly add themselves to the list and this is no good. If you’re looking to free up RAM, they are the first candidates for deletion. Don’t worry, you’re not deleting the app itself, you just stop it from auto-launching every time.
So, to remove Login Items and at the same time reduce your memory usage of your Mac, you need to:
- Open System Preferences and select Users & Groups.
- Click your nickname on the left.
- Select the Login Items tab.
- Check programs you don’t want to load as your Mac starts.
- Press the “–” sign below.
Now, you won’t see these apps pop up the moment you turn on your Mac. Although this method doesn’t require some superpowers of yours, some special Mac optimization and memory cleaner tools may do the job faster and ensure the smooth performance of your Mac. CleanMyMac X is an excellent example of such software. Here’s how to disable Login Items with CleanMyMac X:
- Download it for free and go to the Optimization tab.
- Check Login Items to see the list of apps that get opened when you start your Mac.
- Click Remove.
As you’ve already come to the Optimization module of CleanMyMac, you can also fix hung apps and heavy memory consumers there. In this way, you’ll free up the solid amount of RAM on Mac — 100% free of charge.
Tip # 2. Free up disk space if Mac is low on memory
The available space on your Mac’s drive translates into virtual memory. This comes to save you when you’ve run out of physical RAM. So now your computer relies on your hard drive space to keep your apps going.
The classic geek rule of thumb holds it that you should keep at least 20% of disk space on your startup drive. Not only this potentially reduces your future spending on iCloud storage but it also keeps your Mac speedier.
What to delete to free up space:
- Large unused files, like movies
- Old downloads
- Rarely used applications
- System junk
But here’s a simpler solution to save your time — clean up your drive with CleanMyMac X— the app I’ve mentioned above. Many users recommend it as an excellent way to free up more space because it searches for large & old files, useless system files, Photo junk, mail attachments and shows everything you can safely delete. Interestingly, it finds about 74 GB of junk on an average computer.
Extra trick: How to free up RAM on Mac with CleanMyMac X
If you have downloaded CleanMyMac, you may also take advantage of its amazing feature — the ability to free up RAM in a few seconds. Try this next time you see “Your system has run out of application memory” message.
- Go to the Maintenance tab on the left.
- Click Free Up RAM.
- Click Run.
As simple as that!
And you can do it even if you download a free version of the app.
Tip # 3. Clean up your Desktop
This tip always comes at the bottom of instructions and unfairly so as it is quite effective. Without even looking at your Desktop I would assume it’s cluttered with mountains of icons. Thing is, your macOS was designed in a way that it treats every Desktop icon as a little active window. The more icons, the heavier memory usage on Mac. So in order to release available memory resources, it’s recommended to keep your Desktop clean.
You don’t have to do it all by yourself. With apps like Declutter and Spotless, every desktop cleaning session will be scheduled in advance and executed automatically. Your only job is to define the rules on how your files should be organized.
Tip #4. Clear cache files
Another way to free up RAM on Mac is to clear it of cache files. Of course, it won’t save you gigabytes of space, but deleting cache regularly, you can help your Mac run faster and avoid system issues.
So, to remove cache files on your Mac, you need to:
- Open Finder.
- From the Go menu, select Go to Folder.
- Type ~/Library/Caches in the field and press Go.
- In the window that appears, you will see all your cache files.
- Press Command+A to select all files or delete files one by one.
- Enter your user name and password to confirm.
If you find some files still in the folder after you emptied it, maybe you have some windows open on your Mac. Just like that, you can save up some space on your Mac. Don’t forget to empty the bin afterward.
Tip # 5. Tune up Chrome’s Task Manager
Although Google Chrome is not the one to blame for massive memory usage, it can indeed affect your Mac's performance. If you use Chrome as your primary browser, you probably have many windows opened there. Chrome runs a lot of processes to ensure a fast browsing experience for you. So, it uses your RAM for storing your tabs, plugins, and extensions. Look at how many entries Google Chrome has in Activity Monitor:
The question then arises, 'Why does Chrome use so much RAM?' The thing is that each process is responsible for a separate plugin or extension of your browser. For example, when a tab unexpectedly falls, you need to refresh it to continue your work there. If one process were responsible for all tabs and extensions, you would need to restart the whole browser instead. Can you imagine how many times would you do that? That’s the proper answer to why Chrome uses so much RAM.
I’ve been using Chrome for some years only to discover (recently) that Chrome had a task manager of its own. You can use it to force quit memory-heavy processes in the browser. It’s a handy tool because it lets you see how a page weighs on CPU usage on a Mac.
- Go to Chrome settings (dotted icon in the top right corner)
- Click More tools -> Task Manager
To free up even more RAM, close the GPU process. The GPU Process, though helpful in theory to accelerate pages, eats up a considerable amount of memory. Click to end it to free up RAM on your Mac.
Best Apps To Free Up Ram Memory Mac Os
Tip # 6. Manage RAM usage with CleanMyMac X menu
CleanMyMac X has another useful and convenient feature for managing your Mac’s performance and memory usage. As you install CleanMyMac X and start it for the first time, it’s icon will appear in your menu bar. Click the icon to open the CleanMyMac X menu. Here you can find updates on the current condition of your Mac and perform quick tweaks to increase your Mac's speed. Whenever you feel like your Mac underperforms, open the CleanMyMac X menu to check how much RAM is available and free it up as well.
Tip # 7. Close Finder windows
Okay, suppose you’re still asking yourself, how do I clear RAM on my MacBook Pro/MacBook Air. The next trick is as magical (you’ll see for yourself) as it is time-saving. It’s no secret that each window in the Finder eats up RAM. But how many open windows are there? Some of them are collapsed or stacked in some blind spot on your screen. This Finder command merges all your windows into one. See how to do it:
Click on Finder > Window > Merge All Windows
Now you can manage Finder windows more effectively and free up memory on MacBook.
What else you can do to minimize memory usage on Mac
I’ve saved the easiest tips for the end, as long as these ones are self-explanatory.
- Replace AdBlock (very memory-demanding) with a lighter extension
- Keep fewer opened tabs in the browser
- Restart your Mac more often to free up RAM
- Close all hung-up print queues
How Do I Free Up Application Memory On My Mac Laptop
That was my take on how to make your Mac a bit speedier to use. If you’re looking for more guidance, check simple ways to speed up your Mac.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to check application memory on Mac?
To check RAM usage on your Mac, go to Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities). In the Memory tab, you will see all the active processes that are using your Mac’s RAM. At the end of the window, there is a Memory Used graph, which indicates how much application memory is used.
How to find out whether your Mac needs more RAM?
Your Mac may be using almost all its RAM, but you don’t need more if it’s using it efficiently. Open Activity Monitor and go to the Memory tab. The Memory Pressure graph shows the current condition of your RAM: green color means your Mac’s using RAM effectively, while yellow is a sign that some application or process is using too much of application memory. The red memory pressure signals that your Mac needs more RAM.
How to quickly free up RAM on your MacBook?
Free Up Memory Ram Windows 10
To free up RAM on your Mac, firstly, you should find out what app uses so much of your memory. The memory-heavy programs are listed in Activity Monitor, Memory tab. If there is an app you aren’t using at the moment, click it and press the “X” sign to quit it. This will, in turn, free some of the application memory
These might also interest you:
Software To Free Up Ram
Activity Monitor User Guide
How To Free Up Ram
You can see the amount of system memory being used on your Mac.
In the Activity Monitor app on your Mac, click Memory (or use the Touch Bar) to see the following in the bottom of the window:
Memory Pressure: Graphically represents how efficiently your memory is serving your processing needs.
Memory pressure is determined by the amount of free memory, swap rate, wired memory, and file cached memory.
Physical Memory: The amount of RAM installed.
Memory Used: The amount of RAM being used. To the right, you can see where the memory is allocated.
App Memory: The amount of memory being used by apps.
Wired Memory: Memory required by the system to operate. This memory can’t be cached and must stay in RAM, so it’s not available to other apps.
Compressed: The amount of memory that has been compressed to make more RAM available.
When your computer approaches its maximum memory capacity, inactive apps in memory are compressed, making more memory available to active apps. Look in the Compressed Mem column for each app to see the amount of memory being compressed for that app.
Cached Files: The size of files cached by the system into unused memory to improve performance.
Until this memory is overwritten, it remains cached, so it can help improve performance when you reopen the app.
Swap Used: The amount of space being used on your startup disk to swap unused files to and from RAM.
To display more columns, choose View > Columns, then choose the columns you want to show.
Ram For Mac
You can use Activity Monitor to determine if your Mac could use more RAM.
Updated: June 12, 2021 Home » Freeware and Software Reviews » System Optimization and Registry Cleaner
Increasingly both Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS are intelligent enough to manage the amount of RAM available in the system, especially newer operating systems such as Windows 10 and macOS. Memory optimization software is not necessary unless you are still using a very old OS such as XP or you have very little RAM to spare. Works great on Microsoft’s Windows 10 and Apple’s macOS.
😭 😍 😂 7 RAMDisk vs SSD – Ten Times Faster Read and Write Speed via RAM Virtual Disk
↓ 01 – Memory Cleaner X | macOS
Memory Cleaner X monitors your memory usage and cleans up your Mac’s memory, increasing performance. Cached memory can take up the memory needed for new apps, and Memory Cleaner X increases performance by cleaning cached memory. Memory Cleaner X also monitors RAM usage on your computer, and you can free up unused memory in just one click.
How To Free Up Ram
The application monitors RAM usage on your computer and frees up unused memory with one click. With Memory Cleaner X, you can easily manage your memory usage. An animated status icon in the menu bar shows you the percentage of memory being used, as well as memory cleaning being run. Features:
- Memory usage information displayed in the menu bar
- Memory usage per application
- Manual memory free up when needed
- Automatic memory free up
↓ 02 – CleanMem Free | Windows
CleanMem is still a set it and forget program and is totally free. When you install CleanMem it will auto run every 15 min by the Windows Task Scheduler. Once installed it is set and forgotten. Just as it always has been. You can configure CleanMem to do more advanced things such as ignore lists, only lists, and log files. These can be set by the CleanMem Settings program in the start menu.
↓ 03 – Memory Clean 2 | macOS
Memory Clean is the ultimate app for optimizing your Mac’s memory and is best used after you have finished using a memory (RAM) intensive app or game. It replicates the feeling of a fresh system restart. Memory Clean works by purging the Mac’s inactive memory and is best used when you close an intensive program that you do not plan to use again quickly within a few hours.
↓ 04 – RAMRush | Windows
RAMRush is a free memory management and optimization tool. It can efficiently optimize memory usages of your Windows system, free up physical RAM and make your system work better. RAMRush uses an intelligent way to manage the physical memory and lets the RAM work in a better performance. It will help you to prevent system crashes, memory leaks and keep your computer running more efficiently.
- Increase system performance
- Increase the amount of memory available
- Defragment system physical memory
- Recover memory from Windows applications
- Remove memory leaks
- Prevent system crashes caused by memory problems
↓ 05 – Wise Memory Optimizer | Windows
Most PC users have known and unknown applications running in the background that take up your computer’s physical memory and thereby affect its performance. Wise Memory Optimizer helps you free up and tune up the physical memory taken up by some useless applications to boost PC performance. The application requires a pretty low quantity of CPU and system memory, has a good response time and rapidly finishes an optimization job. Better yet, it also has a portable version. You can drop the program files anywhere on the hard drive or a flash drive and run it on any computer without prior install operations.
↓ 06 – Mz RAM Booster | Windows
Mz RAM Booster is a program created to improve the performance of your computer by auto-recovering RAM and fine tuning some Windows system settings! It uses minimal resources and almost no CPU time. Speed up your computer, stop memory leaks and increase free RAM.
↓ 07 – Memory Cleaner | macOS
Memory Cleaner can increase your free memory with a simple click and monitor memory usage in the menu bar. Memory Cleaner is the perfect tool to keep your computer going full speed and helps you to optimize your memory (RAM) usage with a simple click.
Memory Cleaner keeps your system’s memory (RAM) clean by monitoring and optimizing the memory usage. Helps you to quickly access detailed memory information and diagnosis from your menu bar and CLEAN your memory with a simple click. Main Features:
- One-click and automatic system memory optimization
- List of apps with significant memory usage
- Memory pressure meter and notifications
- Dynamic and customizable menu bar
- Detailed memory information
↓ 08 – Mem Reduct | Windows
Lightweight real-time memory management application to monitor and clean system memory on your computer. The program used undocumented internal system features (Native API) to clear system cache (system working set, working set, standby page lists, modified page lists) with variable result ~10-50%. It is compatible with Windows XP SP3 and higher operating systems, but some general features available only since Windows Vista.
↓ 09 – MemPlus | Windows
MemPlus can be used to monitor the RAM usage on your device. You can clear the memory of any non-essential processes by clicking the “Clear memory” button which is visible in the main window. This will clear both the working sets of processes and the FileSystem cache, if enabled. You also have the ability to clear the working set or FileSystem cache separately.
- RAM Optimizer – MemPlus can be used to reduce the amount of RAM that is being used by applications on your system. In essence, freeing up memory so that more memory is available to you!
- RAM Analyzer – MemPlus can help recover the specification of the RAM that is installed on your system. This information can be exported in TEXT, HTML, CSV and Excel formats.
↓ 10 – Memory Optimizer [ Not Free Anymore ] | Windows
Lacking memory? Optimize with Memory Optimizer. You’d be surprised how much you can recover! Understand your computer’s memory usage and keep it under control – Memory Optimizer will graph your computer’s memory showing you what’s using it and giving you an easy way to optimize it’s usage. Just click “Optimize” and speed your computer up immediately!