Reached heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory - Legacy RN app

I`m running a legacy react native app (0.68.5), with a MacBook Pro (m2, 16GB of ram), and i keep getting:

Reached heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory

Some time the app runs for about 15 - 30 minutes then crashes.

I`m running with Xcode (no idea if changes from terminal yarn react-native run-ios)

OBS: the app runs with metro bundler under the hood

The JavaScript heap size (by default ~1.5GB–2GB) is being exceeded.

The app runs for a while (15–30 min) — suggests a memory leak or gradual bloat.

Immediate Fix (Heap Size) :- Try increasing the Node.js heap size. You can do this by explicitly setting the NODE_OPTIONS env variable:

Run Metro manually with increased memory:

export NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=4096
yarn start