Battling Memory Leaks: Tales from the Trenches at WhatsApp

Is your Erlang/Elixir app guzzling memory like an all-you-can-eat buffet? Tired of restarting it every few days during code freeze just to keep things running? It doesn’t have to be this way!

Join me for a deep dive into BEAM memory troubleshooting, where we’ll demystify garbage collection, allocators, and the finer, more advanced details of memory management. We’ll explore real-world techniques for instrumenting memory, preventing, and diagnosing Out-Of-Memory (OOM) issues—strategies we use at WhatsApp to keep things under control at scale.

You'll learn how to apply these strategies to your own apps, fortify your systems against memory leaks, and gain the confidence to tackle even the trickiest performance issues. Walk away with the tools to keep your app stable, resilient, and—most importantly—running. Your users (and your future self) will thank you.