Question

In objective-c, I know that a static variable (should?) retain its value for the lifetime of the program. But if it stores a pointer, does it count as strong in ARC? Can I depend on it and be assured that that instance will never go out of the heap once I assigned it to a static variable?

static ClassA* shared;

-(id)init
{
   if (self=[super init]) {
       shared=self;
   }
   return self;
}

Answer 1

Yes you can rely on it, once it’s assigned.

The Transitioning to ARC Release Notes state:

Under ARC, strong is the default for object types.

and then:

__strong is the default. An object remains “alive” as long as there is a strong pointer to it.

Given your static pointer references the object, it will remain “alive”. The scope of a pointer (whether global, a pointer on the stack or an instance variable) makes no difference.