Concerns about testing an app on actual iphone

Question

I would like to start testing my application on my iPhone. However, I have one concern.

What if my app has many memory leaks? If i ran such an app on the iPhone multiple times, wouldn't that result in a crash on my iPhone? i.e memory keeps getting allocated but never deallocated?

should i worry about accidentally creating unnecessary files on my iphone such that each time I run i somehow create a file that i dont delete, and it keeps taking up a few kb of space. I test the app many times and after a while i have no space left on my iphone. can such a thing happen? can testing on an actual device damage my phone???

Thanks!

Answer 1

What if my app has many memory leaks? If i ran such an app on the iPhone multiple times, wouldn't that result in a crash on my iPhone? i.e memory keeps getting allocated but never deallocated?

Memory leaks are only a problem as long as the memory is still allocated for your application. As soon as your application closes, or crashes, its memory is deallocated and returned to the OS. If you are running iOS 4 you can double click the home button and close the application to free up memory.

should i worry about accidentally creating unnecessary files on my iphone such that each time I run i somehow create a file that i dont delete, and it keeps taking up a few kb of space. I test the app many times and after a while i have no space left on my iphone. can such a thing happen?

Yea you should take care to create as few files as possible. However, because all files created by your app are contained in a little sandbox that is associated with your app they are deleted when your app is uninstalled. If you feel like your test app is taking up too much space simply uninstall it and then install it again using Xcode. Although I wouldn't worry too much about this as you would have to create A LOT of large test files before they started filling up your phone.

can testing on an actual device damage my phone???

I highly doubt its possible. That is one of the reasons that apple restricts which API's you can and can't use. If you jailbreak your phone and start doing things apple doesn't want you to do all bets are off.

I wouldn't worry too much about messing up your phone by developing on it. I've never heard of someone damaging their phone doing this and if for some reason you phone starts acting up just restore it in iTunes.

Answer 2

Also be sure to clean up any unused resources, etc. When you send it to the background, it only does so much. Make sure you release objects you own, and release the resources. Set autorelease when you can.

Answer 3

Here's a tip. Use Analyze tool in Xcode. Find leaks and remove them. And check the performance using Instruments. Fix your memory leaks using that as well. Once you do both diligently, there should be no reason to worry about leaks anymore. Your other concerns are a bit unnecessary. If you are using only the public cocoa touch APIs, your device should be perfectly safe :)