iPad Memory Leakage Issue – Reasons And Resolution

Memory leak in general is a condition where allocation of memory has been done but not put to use or released. Thus, causes the application to use up memory, which results in reduction of the memory available for other programs. This eventually causes the system/device to page the virtual memory to storage causing other applications to slow down or much worse crash. There is a possibility that in extreme cases, the device may stop working, i.e. when the limits have been approached.

iPad Memory Leakage – Explained

Management of application-based memory is the procedure of allotting memory to it during the program’s runtime and later freeing it after it is done. When a program is well written, least possible memory is used.

Memory leak can also be observed as a method of rendering limited memory resource ownership to multiple codes and piece of data as per Objective-C. Managing and freeing unnecessary memory when not needed any longer is an essential task.

Even though managing memory is usually considered at a single object level, but the goal is to manage object graphs. One must ensure that there are no extra objects in the memory than actually required.

Consequences of Memory Leak

There are two types of memory when seen from an overall perspective. One is the storage while the other is RAM. Distinguishing between the both is easier on computers as the storage is done in the form of hard drive and such storage media while RAM is separate.

When a memory leak takes place, it leaves behind chunks memory that is no more available for usage by programmer. In case a program (application) owns more than necessary memory, which is not deallocated then the result could be slowdown of the program’s performance.

Now the problem that would occur is that when no memory is left over in a program owing to memory leaks, leads to causing the program to crash. Moreover, the best way to cease a problem from either taking place or causing damage is to monitor and detect it beforehand.

How to Monitor iOS Allocations?

An application named ‘Instrument’ is a tool that can be used for observing and detecting the leakage of memory on a device. The following steps can be used for the same purpose:

1. Run the application using an iOS simulator (an application that creates iOS environment on a computer)
2. Run Instruments:
   • Xcode 4.4 and Above Versions: Run Xcode go to ‘Instruments’ from Open  Developer Tools option
   • 4.3 and Previous Versions: Choose ‘Instruments’ by clicking on Open followed by Developer and Applications in the respective order.
3. Click on Allocations and select Choose from Choose a Template window
4. Now attach the application to Instruments using Xcode:
   • For 6.x & Above: Click on Choose Target and then click on More…from System. Click on the app’s name when you find it while scrolling down.
   • For 5.x and Previous: Click on Choose Target then Attach to Process and click on the app name from under the System.
5. Click on Record and then wait until data recording begins.
6. Enter a Filter string in the filter box provided for Instrument Detail. For Instance: Enter TiUI to denote only the relevant information regarding allocation.
   NOTE: Just in the case of Xcode 6.x the objects are collapsed in ‘All Heap Allocations’ drop down. Thus, you are required to expand this option by clicking on detail arrow button given on right. This is not needed in case you are the targeting device. Later versions of Xcode have fixed this.
7. Now click and use the application and simultaneously monitor values on Instruments.

Resolution: Managing memory related issues vary in each condition. In some, just rebooting the device is enough while in the rest, manually getting it fixed is required.