The arrival of a new macOS version is always a big event for Apple users, bringing a mix of excitement for new features and a little bit of apprehension about the inevitable day-one bugs. With macOS 26, also known as Tahoe, now rolling out, users are discovering some interesting issues. But one bug, in particular, is so unusual it’s causing a stir online: the humble Calculator app. It is reportedly suffering from a massive memory leak, with one user seeing it consume over 30GB of RAM.
A screenshot originally posted to Reddit by user WeGoToMars7 and later shared on X by developer Dmitriy Kovalenko showed Apple’s native Calculator app using a whopping 32.22GB of memory.
The discovery quickly went viral, prompting a wave of disbelief and jokes. On X, one user commented, “man… that is super hard to leak that much memory.. that is amazing!” Another Redditor, ShinigamiGir, joked that the app was just “pre caching all possible answers.”
One user on Reddit drily noted, “That’s why the iPad didn’t have it for so long,” referencing the infamous decade-plus wait for a native Calculator app on the iPad. Others couldn’t resist speculating on what kind of calculation could possibly demand so many resources. “Did you divide by zero?” one asked.
Another wondered if the user was “calculating pi or smth.” Of course, no standard calculation is to blame. This behavior is a classic sign of a memory leak, where a program incorrectly manages its memory allocations and fails to release memory it no longer needs, causing its footprint to grow uncontrollably over time.
While the Calculator bug is the most comical example of macOS 26’s teething problems, it appears to be part of a larger pattern of memory management issues in the new operating system. A more serious problem is impacting the developer community, specifically users of Visual Studio Code.
A fast‑rising thread on r/MacOS warns editors and devs not to update yet if daily tools depend on Electron, linking to active VS Code issue threads and deeper discussion in the Electron tracker while folks narrow the culprit, with hints pointing at rendering paths. Electron maintainers are aggregating reports under issue 48311, noting severe system‑wide lag even when CPU and GPU aren’t pegged, which lines up with what others are feeling on macOS 26.
That said, if Calculator starts creeping up, force quit it from the menu or Activity Monitor, and then reboot to clear the slate. The issue will likely be patched in a future update.
FYI, something similar happened back in 2021 with macOS Monterey. Even back then, it only affected a handful of users. It’s unclear how long it took for a fix to arrive, but it might have been fixed within a short period of time, since chatter about it also died down as quickly as it started.
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Dwayne Cubbins
1330 Posts
For nearly a decade, I've been deciphering the complexities of the tech world, with a particular passion for helping users navigate the ever-changing tech landscape. From crafting in-depth guides that unlock your phone's hidden potential to uncovering and explaining the latest bugs and glitches, I make sure you get the most out of your devices. And yes, you might occasionally find me ranting about some truly frustrating tech mishaps.
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