iOS 8 Only Memory Leak with UIAlertController or UIActionSheet

Question

I'm seeing a memory leak in iOS 8 in simulator when I do the following with UIActionSheet or UIAlertController. UIActionSheet uses UIAlertController in IOS 8 so the issues are related.

showCameraAction gets called when a button is pressed. I've removed all of the content from the delegate method and still get the leak in the case shown below. Am I using UIActionSheet in some way that I shouldn't? I would appreciate any help in resolving this issue. The same code has no leaks with IOS 7 (in the simulator).

-(IBAction)showCameraAction:(id)sender
{

UIActionSheet* actionSheet = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:@"Photo From:"
                                                         delegate:self
                                                cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel"
                                           destructiveButtonTitle:nil
                                                otherButtonTitles:@"Phone", @"Flickr", nil];

[actionSheet showInView:[[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow]];
//also tried  just showInView: self.view
}

//empty

 - (void)actionSheet:(UIActionSheet *)actionSheet
 clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {
 }

Also tried with UIAlertController, with the same result:

UIAlertController *alertController = [UIAlertController
                                      alertControllerWithTitle:@"Photo From:"
                                      message:@""
                                      preferredStyle:UIAlertControllerStyleActionSheet];
UIAlertAction *phoneAction = [UIAlertAction
                               actionWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Phone", @"Phone action")
                               style:UIAlertActionStyleCancel
                               handler:^(UIAlertAction *action)
                               {
                                   NSLog(@"Phone action");
                               }];

UIAlertAction *flickrAction = [UIAlertAction
                           actionWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Flickr", @"Flickr action")
                           style:UIAlertActionStyleDefault
                           handler:^(UIAlertAction *action)
                           {
                               NSLog(@"Flickr action");
                           }];

[alertController addAction:phoneAction];
[alertController addAction:flickrAction];


[self presentViewController:alertController animated:YES completion:nil];

Screenshot with trace: https://www.dropbox.com/l/FmnTCd0PvVhuu16BVHZo7p

Answer 1

I would suggest to use "UIAlertController" in iOS8. And dismiss the alertController object from the presented controller, while firing any event by "UIAlertAction" block.

UIAlertController  *alertController = [UIAlertController alertControllerWithTitle:@"title"
message:@"message"
preferredStyle:UIAlertControllerStyleAlert];

UIAlertAction  *alertAction = [UIAlertAction actionWithTitle:@"actionTitle"
style:UIAlertActionStyleDefault
handler:^(UIAlertAction *action) {
//Do ur stuff
[alertController dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES
                                    completion:NULL];
}];
[alertController addAction:alertAction];
[self presentViewController:alertController
                       animated:YES
                     completion:NULL];

Answer 2

This is an iOS bug.

See Apple Bug Reporter issue 21005708, Memory leak in UIAlertController under ARC.

Answer 3

This is no answer, but more evidence for the leak, that exceeds a comment. May it help to find a solution or workaround. The leak seems to be device specific on iPad 3/Retina!

I have made some tests myself by overriding retain and release of the view-controller to show the leak in iOS 8.x

See also: https://devforums.apple.com/message/1099577#1099577

• LEAKY Devices: iPad 3 (A1416), iPad Air Simulator
• GOOD Devices: iPhone 6 iOS 8.1.3, iPhone 4s with iOS 8.1.2

AGC is the view-controller. The correct retain count should be 2.

iPad Retina Simulator iOS 8.1 AND real iPad LEAK // second run ... this time with LEAK by selecting an option 12:56:50.929 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] >>> WILL actionSheet showInView: retain = 2 12:56:50.930 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 3 12:56:50.950 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 4 12:56:50.951 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 5 12:56:50.951 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 6 12:56:50.951 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] <<< DID actionSheet showInView: retain = 6 12:56:50.998 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 5 12:56:51.042 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 4 12:56:51.042 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 3 // USER dismisses the action sheet with tapping a button (delegate is nil) 12:56:53.257 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 4 12:56:53.257 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 5 12:56:53.258 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 6 12:56:53.258 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 7 12:56:53.258 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 6 12:56:53.259 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 5 12:56:53.612 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 4 12:56:53.612 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 3 // <<<<<<<<<< LEAK should be 2 // the last release is missing, but only iOS system code has executed.

iPad Retina Simulator iOS 8.1 AND real iPad, dismiss without LEAK 12:54:54.757 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] >>> WILL actionSheet showInView: retain = 2 12:54:54.758 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 3 12:54:54.798 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 4 12:54:54.798 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 5 12:54:54.798 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 6 12:54:54.798 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] <<< DID actionSheet showInView: retain = 6 12:54:54.845 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 5 12:54:54.891 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 4 12:54:54.891 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 3 // NOW ... dismiss the action sheet without selection (delegate is nil) 12:55:05.643 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 4 12:55:05.644 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 5 12:55:05.644 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 6 12:55:05.644 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC retain == 7 12:55:05.645 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 6 12:55:05.645 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 5 12:55:05.996 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 4 12:55:05.997 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 3 12:55:05.997 SimplySolitaire[27643:473670] AGC release = 2 // this is a correct retain of 2