"This same dev did things like putting what he deemed as being large objects (icons) into weak references to save memory. When the references were collected, invariably they had to be reloaded."

Well actually, this is what the Apple[1] docs instruct devs to do. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Co...

For .NET on iOS, the difference between managed and unmanaged objects is of particular concern. In the example you provide, the Icon Assets are objects from an Apple Framework, not managed by .NET. You might use them in the UIKit views for list items in a UIKit List View.

iOS creates and disposes these list view items independently of .NET managed code. Because the reference counts can't be updated across these contexts, you'll inevitably end up with dangling references. This memory can't be cleared, so inadvertently using strong references will cause a memory leak that grows until your app crashes.

The following is a great explainer in the context of Xamarin for iOS. https://thomasbandt.com/xamarinios-memory-pitfalls

The above still applies with different languages / frameworks of course, however the difference is less explicit from a syntax perspective IMHO