With synthesized ivars, you must do: self.blueView = [[BlueView alloc] init]; [self.blueView release]; When you allocate to get the proper retain count; I

With synthesized ivars, you must do: self.blueView = [[BlueView alloc] init]; [self.blueView release]; When you allocate to get the proper retain count; I can demonstrate why by using a temporary variable: BlueView* bv = [[BlueView alloc] init]; //Retaincount = 1 self.blueView = bv; //Reaincount = 2 [self.blueView release]; //retainCount = 1 And then in dealloc [self.blueView release]; //retainCount =0; So in dealloc I could call your function, but there are things in various object packing schemes (KVO most importantly) where calling the setter like that screws stuff up. It's better to just call the getter (which should be side effect free) and release the returned object. So looking at retain counts in the original example: self.blueView = [[BlueView alloc] init]; //Retain count 2 [self.blueView release]; //Retain count 1 and in dealloc [self.blueView release]; //Retain count 0 If I just did what you said, I'd get: self.blueView = [[BlueView alloc] init]; //Retain count 2 and in dealloc self.blueView=nil; //Retain count 1, rut ro, memory leak