LeakCanary – memory leak detection library for Android

In a Java based runtime, a memory leak is a programming error that causes an application to keep a reference to an object that is no longer needed. As a result, the memory allocated for that object cannot be reclaimed, eventually leading to an OutOfMemoryError (OOM) crash.

For example, an Android Activity instance is no longer needed after its onDestroy() method is called, and storing a reference to that instance in a static field prevents it from being garbage collected.

LeakCanary’s knowledge of the internals of the Android Framework gives it a unique ability to narrow down the cause of each leak, helping developers dramatically reduce OutOfMemoryError crashes.

Common causes for memory leaks

Most memory leaks are caused by bugs related to the lifecycle of objects. Here are a few common Android mistakes:

• Adding a Fragment instance to the backstack without clearing that Fragment’s view fields in Fragment.onDestroyView() (more details in this StackOverflow answer).
• Storing an Activity instance as a Context field in an object that survives activity recreation due to configuration changes.
• Registering a listener, broadcast receiver or RxJava subscription which references an object with lifecycle, and forgetting to unregister when the lifecycle reaches its end.

Why should I use LeakCanary?

Memory leaks are very common in Android apps and the accumulation of small memory leaks causes apps to run out of memory and crash with an OOM. LeakCanary will help you find and fix these memory leaks during development. When Square engineers first enabled LeakCanary in the Square Point Of Sale app, they were able to fix several leaks and reduced the OOM crash rate by 94%.

How LeakCanary works

Once LeakCanary is installed, it automatically detects and report memory leaks, in 4 steps:

1. Detecting retained objects.
2. Dumping the heap.
3. Analyzing the heap.
4. Categorizing leaks.