HOW TO: Send us logs and info about unusual memory application usage

When your app consumes unusually high memory (or leaks), the most helpful thing you can do is to provide reproducible steps and diagnostic data (logs, crash reports, or system snapshots).

This guide explains how to collect useful information for our support team.

Monitor Memory usage

1. Open the Activity Monitor application (in Applications > Utilities).
2. Click the Memory tab at the top.
3. Locate your application and check the value in the Memory column.
4. To make things clearer, type part of the app name in the search field to filter the list.

It’s normal for memory usage to change, for example:

• When you start or stop recording in MovieRecorder
• When different files play in OnTheAir Video

However, if the memory usage keeps increasing steadily and never goes down, it may indicate a memory leak. That’s why it’s important to monitor usage over a few minutes or hours to confirm whether the problem is consistent.

Reproduce the problem

Once you suspect a leak:

1. Quit and relaunch your app (so logging starts fresh).
2. Perform the steps that usually trigger the high memory usage / leak.
3. Wait until you observe the problem (e.g. memory climbs, app slows, etc.). 
4. Don’t force-quit prematurely — let things stabilize if possible.

Try to note approximately when the memory starts increasing and whether performance slows down.

Collect logs

When you’ve observed that memory is rising steadily, collect diagnostic logs. You can either use the provided script or run the commands manually.

Using the script attached

The script Memory_Leak_GrabLogs.sh attached to this article automates the process:

• Download the script.
• Open the "Terminal" application
• Drag and drop the script into the Terminal window
• Press Return
• When prompted, enter the name of the application you want to analyze
• Enter your administrator password when asked

The script will create a ZIP file on your Desktop containing all the required logs and reports.

Note: You may need to grant Terminal “Full Disk Access” in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access for some logs to be captured.

 

Manually

If you prefer not to use the script, or if it doesn’t run properly, you can run the following commands in Terminal. The example below is for MovieRecorder; replace it with the name of your app.. 

vmmap -summary MovieRecorder > ~/Desktop/Softron_vmmap.txt

heap MovieRecorder > ~/Desktop/Softron_heap.txt

leaks MovieRecorder > ~/Desktop/Softron_leaks.txt

sudo spindump MovieRecorder -file ~/Desktop/Softron_spindump.txt

What each command does:

• vmmap — shows how memory is used (heaps, frameworks, textures, etc.)
• heap — lists memory allocations by category
• leaks — detects unreferenced memory blocks (potential leaks)
• spindump — records process activity and stack traces

💡 These tools are part of Apple’s Command Line Tools. If you see “command not found,” install them with: xcode-select --install

Submit the logs to us

Once these logs are collected, you will also need to collect the "usual" logs so we can analyse the context. 

For applications released after June 2025:

1. From the application menu, go to Help ▸ Contact Softron Support…
2. Click Contact Softron Support.
3. In the form that opens:
       •    Drag and drop the sample file (and any other log files) into the Additional Files section.
       •    Make sure the option “Collect and Upload Logs Automatically” is enabled.
4. Click Update Ticket (or New Ticket, if you’re starting a new report)

Alternative: Send Files Manually

If you prefer to send the files manually, or if the in-app submission doesn’t work, you can upload everything through our secure file-sharing service:

👉 https://softron.tv/support/upload-files

Add a comment

After uploading, please add a comment to your support ticket with the link to the files so we can locate them quickly.

Privacy and File Size

These logs may contain technical information about your system (process names, memory regions, etc.), but they do not include personal data or any of your media files.

If a file is very large (over 100 MB), compress it before uploading. In the Finder, right click on it and select "Compress".