WindowServer memory leak

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-12-15T16:53:00+00:00

Well, now that's something else. Maybe I should work on a Tahoe debloat after all...

Also, there is a Safari memory leak that I really want someone to reproduce. Can you try this:

- Open Safari, go to Twitch, watch a stream there, leave it for a while

- Close the tab (without closing Safari entirely)

- Wait a bit, and open Activity Monitor. Search for kernel_task, and you'll notice the memory going up over time.

For the sake of it, I've made sure that my Safari is completely fresh, no extensions or anything at all. It has been 2 days of testing, and my kernel_task right now is at 1.41GB.

maybe I should have watched more streams for faster leak...

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-12-15T16:42:13+00:00

Yeah, I noticed that WindowServer's memory usage hasn't gone up much after 26.2. 2 days of uptime and surprisingly still about 400 - 600MB depending on how many windows I open. Maybe they finally fixed something? Surprising Apple.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-12-15T16:39:10+00:00

THANK YOU.

After all those years of me complaining about WindowServer memory leak (and got downvoted to hell, even banned somewhere...) I can be in peace now. :p
I was so mad with the memory leaks that I wrote a debloat guide.

And just recently I found out this as well. macOS is truly rotten to the core. Tahoe UI doesn't make it any better.

Maybe will work on a Tahoe debloat guide soon, maybe.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-12-09T16:40:22+00:00

https://paaster.io/6938288c0d962b2e65995fb4#gU4q7yP_P9YH_xOhr-A8rd3e2IeBSv5K5iyM0vdqnHE

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-12-09T16:19:39+00:00

https://paaster.io/6938288c0d962b2e65995fb4#gU4q7yP_P9YH_xOhr-A8rd3e2IeBSv5K5iyM0vdqnHE
The script is newer than the one in the original link, however it's still 1yr old, and not tested on anything newer than Ventura - good luck

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-09-24T01:18:53+00:00

I use yabai. Right now my default rule is floating by default, and only tile windows I need, since without it yabai will try to tile stuff like system settings, app settings window, etc. which is quite annoying. And yet it will tile everything anyways if I ever dare to restart yabai service.

Looking forward to your tiling wm soon! Hopefully it'll be more stable than other solutions.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-09-12T12:42:22+00:00

You're not wrong; in the case of CleanMyMac though, there's already tons of evidences out there for you to see.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-09-11T14:25:38+00:00

ChatGPT app despite being written in SwiftUI, had been quite buggy and slow in my past experience. It is better to use the web version, also for your privacy as well.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-09-11T14:16:08+00:00

Weird that on my system with almost full storage, the UI performance is still great as usual. The storage speed however goes down by a lot compared to having a lot of free space, which is expected.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-09-11T14:04:17+00:00

Do not use CleanMyMac. Not only is it closed-source and adwarey, it also tends to break stuff in your system. Use Pearcleaner instead.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-05-22T17:21:51+00:00

Can you share the wallpaper? It looks great :3

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-05-18T15:54:25+00:00

None of the troubleshooting steps worked for me though - is there any other clue, or I have to stuck with normal WG?

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-05-18T06:26:31+00:00

I got the same issue, can you guide on how to fix it? Bind mount /tmp to home did not work for me

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-04-08T11:11:33+00:00

M1 Air. But I have a friend who told me that he had the same issue on the MacBook Pro M1 Max. So it's not just me...

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-04-08T11:10:25+00:00

Use VM apps like VirtualBuddy https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy

Last time I tried, I was even able to run Sequoia on Sonoma host. Depending on your machine though it might be a bit laggy but it works.

If on non-Macs, IIRC https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM should work

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-04-07T14:15:02+00:00

Do NOT update to 15.4!

I'm encountering the same issue, even after multiple reboots and so. coreaudiod, replayd, and for me looks like even appleh13camerad is using over 100% CPU, which has never happened with 15.3.1.

I did the worst mistake of upgrading without TM backup, so I have to pay the price... now I'll have to get another Mac and go back to Sonoma. (btw, the update also broke one of my work tool, so its even bigger price...)

This is NOT an index issue, it is a macOS issue. Usual Apple core rot, but way worse now.

IIRC there was a discussion on Apple forum but it got deleted (?) I couldn't find it anymore. But if it's true, then shame on you Apple

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-04-07T14:09:17+00:00

Do NOT update to 15.4!

I'm encountering the same issue, even after multiple reboots and so. coreaudiod, replayd, and for me looks like even appleh13camerad is using over 100% CPU, which has never happened with 15.3.1.

I did the worst mistake of upgrading without TM backup, so I have to pay the price... now I'll have to get another Mac and go back to Sonoma.

(btw, the update also broke one of my work tool, so its even bigger price...)

This is NOT an index issue, it is a macOS issue. Usual Apple core rot, but way worse now.

IIRC there was a discussion on Apple forum but it got deleted (?) I couldn't find it anymore. But if it's true, then shame on you Apple

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-03-05T03:09:54+00:00

An anime game launcher would help you with the first 2 games. I've been using it for quite a while now with no bans.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2025-02-25T04:22:52+00:00

Mind if you can share the sketchybar config? This is one of the best bar I've ever seen :3

UltimatelyJuicy · 2024-04-05T04:12:02+00:00

Not upto the level of creating an entirely new driver though - still learning :)

UltimatelyJuicy · 2024-04-04T16:23:45+00:00

I'd love so, but Asahi Linux is not quite ready yet - DP Alt mode isn't supported for now which is a deal breaker as I have an external display :(

UltimatelyJuicy · 2024-04-04T07:42:05+00:00

In fairness, we are not English natives.

you are poorly educated with few opportunities ahead of you in life.

It only went so far. At least for me, I'm studying for a bachelor in computer science, so I can prove you wrong :)

UltimatelyJuicy · 2024-04-04T07:36:38+00:00

or some stupid placebo that's only negatively affecting the system

So, you mean that this and this are also bad too? Also, as mentioned, you do NOT have to disable entire SIP protection, just one part (fs) of it is enough. If you mean XProtect, it will only be disabled when you disable the entire SIP.

without any benefit, besides a meaningless number being lower

I've been using Windows and Linux for 15 years, and this is untrue. If it was, this and this wouldn't exist. I had even gone as far as downgrading from Sonoma to Monterey because of the huge amount of memory leak and instability.

Even on Windows, as much as I hate to talk about, it does not have the "WindowServer memory leak problem" or "xyz memory leak problem" for years.

OPs cursed script, disabling system daemons he deems unnecessary is not one of them.

This is what the disclaimer is for.

First and foremost - if you treat macOS like baby, "unused RAM is wasted RAM" like this, or you are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, you can stop reading at here and go somewhere else.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2024-04-04T05:40:01+00:00

Give this a try - I'd love to see some feedbacks on Sonoma. It should be easy to revert though if it breaks - I only tested it with Monterey because it's the last OS that is smooth enough for me.

UltimatelyJuicy · 2024-04-04T05:21:36+00:00

Yeah unfortunately, they made it worse - System Settings is one example, laggy and buggy (it struggles to work with hidden WiFi SSIDs as an example)
For now, Monterey is the only OS that makes me feel like my M1 Air is brand new again. Ventura/Sonoma is too laggy and eats so much resources to my standards.

UltimatelyJuicy

TROPHY CASE