How to Find Memory Leaks in Your iOS App: 3 PRO Techniques

A memory leak is a situation in an iOS app when memory that is no longer in use is not properly cleared and continues taking up space. This can hurt app performance, and eventually, when the app runs out of available memory, will cause a crash.

There are a number of techniques that can be used to find memory leaks in iOS projects. Here are three of the most effective:

Use the Allocations and Leaks instrument in Xcode. This instrument tracks all of the objects that your app allocates over the course of its run. It can then show you a list of any objects that have not been deallocated, which are potential memory leaks.

Use a symbolic breakpoint. we can use another technique to continuously monitor for potential memory leaks. Xcode allows us to create a symbolic breakpoint. In this case, we can create a breakpoint to listen to the view controller’s dealloc method and check if the view controller was deallocated from memory.

Here are the steps on how to create a symbolic breakpoint to listen to the view controller’s dealloc method:

1. Open Xcode and select your project.
2. In the Xcode toolbar, select the Debug navigator.
3. In the Debug navigator, click the Add Breakpoint button (+).
4. In the Breakpoint Assistant, select the Symbolic Breakpoint radio button.
5. In the Symbol field, type -[UIViewController dealloc].
6. Click the Add button.

Now, whenever a view controller is deallocated, Xcode will stop at the breakpoint. You can then check the stack trace to see where the view controller was deallocated from. This can help you identify the code that is causing the memory leak.

Use the Debug Memory Graph. The Debug Memory Graph is a tool that was introduced in Xcode 8. It allows you to visualize the memory graph of your app, which can be helpful for identifying memory leaks.

In addition to these techniques, there are a number of other things that you can do to help prevent memory leaks in your iOS projects. Here are a few tips:

• Use weak or unowned references when dealing with closures or delegates. A weak reference is a reference that will not prevent an object from being deallocated. An unowned reference is similar to a weak reference, but it can only be used when the object is guaranteed to be deallocated before the reference is used.
• Use a linter. A linter is a tool that can help you find potential errors in your code. Many linters have rules that can help you find memory leaks.
• Use a memory profiler. A memory profiler is a tool that can help you track the memory usage of your app. This can be helpful for identifying potential memory leaks.

By following these techniques, you can help to ensure that your iOS projects are free of memory leaks.

Bonus tip:

A great rule of thumb is to always use weak or unowned when dealing with closures or delegates. This will help to prevent memory leaks from occurring.

You can also use some type of linter, like SwiftLint. This is a great tool that enforces you to adhere to a code style. You can detect issues at compile time and it helps automate code style for your team.

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