When the “Your system has run out of application memory” error appears, your Mac is on the verge of a total system freeze. This isn’t just a RAM problem; it’s a critical failure of your SSD to provide “Swap Space.” If your hard drive is cluttered with hidden system data, macOS cannot create the virtual memory it needs to keep your apps running. To prevent data loss and permanent instability, you must clear this storage bottleneck immediately.
How to Fix “Out of Application Memory” with a Third-Party App
The fastest way to stop this error is to clear the “Swap Space” bottleneck. We recommend Intego Washing Machine X9 which is specifically designed to hunt down the hidden system logs, orphaned caches, and “Purgeable” files that prevent macOS from creating virtual memory.
While manual cleaning can take hours, Intego identifies the massive blocks of “System Data” in seconds. By clearing this clutter, you provide your Mac with the room it needs to allocate memory to your active apps, stopping the “Force Quit” loop immediately.
Step-by-Step Fix:
- Get Intego Washing Machine X9
- Select ‘Reclaim’: Choose the Reclaim cycle to scan for non-essential system files.
- Analyze the Bloat: The tool will find massive caches from apps like Adobe, Chrome, and Spotify that are hoarding space.
- Click ‘Clean’: 🚀 Instantly remove the junk. This “unlocks” your SSD, allowing macOS to use it as virtual RAM again.
How to Troubleshoot Application Memory Manually
If you have the time to dig into your system settings, you can attempt to clear memory leaks and free up space through these manual steps.
Solution 1: Use Activity Monitor to Kill “Zombies”
Sometimes a single app or background process “leaks” memory, growing until it consumes everything.
- Open Activity Monitor (Cmd + Space, then type the name).
- Click the Memory tab.
- Click the Memory column to sort by the highest usage.
- Identify apps using an unusual amount (e.g., a browser tab using 4GB). Select it and click the “X” at the top to Force Quit.
Solution 2: Clear the “Library” Caches
Browser caches and app temporary files are the #1 cause of “Disk Full” errors that lead to memory crashes.
- Open Finder and press
Cmd + Shift + G. - Type
~/Library/Cachesand hit Enter. - Select the folders you want to delete (Warning: You will see hundreds of folders. Deleting the wrong one can reset app preferences. To be safe, only delete folders belonging to apps you no longer have installed.)
Solution 3: Manage Startup Items
If your Mac starts with too many apps open, your “Memory Pressure” will be high before you even start working.
- Go to System Settings > General > Login Items.
- Remove any apps you don’t need immediately upon boot.
- Restart your Mac to clear the current “Swap” file and start with a fresh memory slate.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means your Mac has exhausted both its physical RAM and its available “Swap Space” on the hard drive. Without this extra room, macOS can no longer support running applications.
This usually happens because your SSD is too full. Even with 16GB of RAM, macOS needs several GBs of free disk space to act as a buffer. If your disk is full, the system crashes.
Not exactly. Application memory is the combination of your physical RAM and “Virtual Memory” (space on your SSD used as temporary RAM).
The quickest way is to restart your Mac to clear the swap files. Long-term, you must delete “System Data” and large cache files using a tool like Intego Washing Machine to ensure the error doesn’t return.
Safari stores “Tab Snapshots” and massive amounts of cached data in hidden Library folders. If these aren’t cleaned, a single browser session can consume over 20GB of virtual memory.
Yes, this is the most common cause. When the drive has less than 10-15% free space, macOS struggles to allocate the virtual memory needed for high-performance apps.
Memory usage fluctuates, but “Memory Pressure” in Activity Monitor should stay green. If it turns yellow or red, you are at risk of an “Out of Memory” error.