In what cases are reference counting-based automatic memory management mechanisms used?

Automatic reference counting (reference counting) memory management mechanisms are used when it is important to immediately free objects as soon as they are no longer referenced. This is characteristic of resource-constrained systems, such as iOS, where ARC (Automatic Reference Counting) automatically increments and decrements the reference count of objects.

Reference counting is convenient when deterministic memory release is needed without delays, unlike garbage collectors with deferred cleanup. However, it cannot handle cyclic references, so additional mechanisms (such as weak references) are used in such cases.

Example: in iOS, ARC automatically manages object memory by increasing the count when assigned and decreasing it when leaving the scope, which helps avoid leaks without manual release calls.