diff --git a/Classes/LDBSnapshot.mm b/Classes/LDBSnapshot.mm
index 99ed25c..52870fd 100644
--- a/Classes/LDBSnapshot.mm
+++ b/Classes/LDBSnapshot.mm
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ @interface LDBSnapshot () {
 @implementation LDBSnapshot 
 
 + (LDBSnapshot *) snapshotFromDB:(LevelDB *)database {
-    LDBSnapshot *snapshot = [[[LDBSnapshot alloc] init] autorelease];
+    LDBSnapshot *snapshot = [[LDBSnapshot alloc] init];
     snapshot->_snapshot = [database db]->GetSnapshot();
     snapshot->_db = database;
     return snapshot;
@@ -84,14 +84,14 @@ - (id) valueForKey:(NSString *)key {
 }
 
 - (NSArray *)allKeys {
-    NSMutableArray *keys = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
+    NSMutableArray *keys = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
     [self enumerateKeysUsingBlock:^(LevelDBKey *key, BOOL *stop) {
         [keys addObject:NSDataFromLevelDBKey(key)];
     }];
     return [NSArray arrayWithArray:keys];
 }
 - (NSArray *)keysByFilteringWithPredicate:(NSPredicate *)predicate {
-    NSMutableArray *keys = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
+    NSMutableArray *keys = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
     [self enumerateKeysBackward:NO
                   startingAtKey:nil
             filteredByPredicate:predicate
@@ -170,7 +170,6 @@ - (void) close {
 }
 - (void) dealloc {
     [self close];
-    [super dealloc];
 }
 
 @end
diff --git a/Classes/LDBWriteBatch.mm b/Classes/LDBWriteBatch.mm
index a63247d..f63e4aa 100644
--- a/Classes/LDBWriteBatch.mm
+++ b/Classes/LDBWriteBatch.mm
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 
 @interface LDBWritebatch () {
     leveldb::WriteBatch _writeBatch;
-    id _db;
 }
 
 @property (readonly) leveldb::WriteBatch writeBatch;
@@ -28,8 +27,8 @@ @implementation LDBWritebatch {
 @synthesize db = _db;
 
 + (instancetype) writeBatchFromDB:(id)db {
-    id wb = [[[self alloc] init] autorelease];
-    ((LDBWritebatch *)wb)->_db = [db retain];
+    id wb = [[self alloc] init];
+    ((LDBWritebatch *)wb)->_db = db;
     return wb;
 }
 
@@ -42,14 +41,11 @@ - (instancetype) init {
 }
 - (void)dealloc {
     if (_serial_queue) {
-        dispatch_release(_serial_queue);
         _serial_queue = nil;
     }
     if (_db) {
-        [_db release];
         _db = nil;
     }
-    [super dealloc];
 }
 
 - (void) removeObjectForKey:(id)key {
diff --git a/Classes/LevelDB.h b/Classes/LevelDB.h
index c7f5e2b..3fbf1a0 100644
--- a/Classes/LevelDB.h
+++ b/Classes/LevelDB.h
@@ -60,12 +60,12 @@ NSData   * NSDataFromLevelDBKey  (LevelDBKey * key);
 /**
  The path of the database on disk
  */
-@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *path;
+@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *path;
 
 /**
  The name of the database.
  */
-@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *name;
+@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *name;
 
 /**
  A boolean value indicating whether write operations should be synchronous (flush to disk before returning).
diff --git a/Classes/LevelDB.mm b/Classes/LevelDB.mm
index a96ed4a..20c3f0a 100755
--- a/Classes/LevelDB.mm
+++ b/Classes/LevelDB.mm
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ virtual void Delete(const leveldb::Slice& key) {
 }
 
 NSString * NSStringFromLevelDBKey(LevelDBKey * key) {
-    return [[[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:key->data
+    return [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:key->data
                                     length:key->length
-                                  encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] autorelease];
+                                  encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
 }
 NSData   * NSDataFromLevelDBKey(LevelDBKey * key) {
     return [NSData dataWithBytes:key->data length:key->length];
@@ -117,9 +117,8 @@ - (id) initWithPath:(NSString *)path andName:(NSString *)name {
 - (id) initWithPath:(NSString *)path name:(NSString *)name andOptions:(LevelDBOptions)opts {
     self = [super init];
     if (self) {
-        _name = [name retain];
-        _path = [path retain];
-        
+        _path = path;
+        _name = name;
         leveldb::Options options;
         
         options.create_if_missing = opts.createIfMissing;
@@ -145,8 +144,6 @@ - (id) initWithPath:(NSString *)path name:(NSString *)name andOptions:(LevelDBOp
                                           attributes:nil
                                                error:&crError];
             if (!success) {
-                [_name release];
-                [_path release];
                 NSLog(@"Problem creating parent directory: %@", crError);
                 return nil;
             }
@@ -162,8 +159,6 @@ - (id) initWithPath:(NSString *)path name:(NSString *)name andOptions:(LevelDBOp
         writeOptions.sync = false;
         
         if(!status.ok()) {
-            [_name release];
-            [_path release];
             NSLog(@"Problem creating LevelDB database: %s", status.ToString().c_str());
             return nil;
         }
@@ -193,7 +188,7 @@ + (id) databaseInLibraryWithName:(NSString *)name {
 + (id) databaseInLibraryWithName:(NSString *)name
                       andOptions:(LevelDBOptions)opts {
     NSString *path = [getLibraryPath() stringByAppendingPathComponent:name];
-    LevelDB *ldb = [[[self alloc] initWithPath:path name:name andOptions:opts] autorelease];
+    LevelDB *ldb = [[self alloc] initWithPath:path name:name andOptions:opts];
     return ldb;
 }
 
@@ -244,7 +239,7 @@ - (void) addEntriesFromDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dictionary {
 #pragma mark - Write batches
 
 - (LDBWritebatch *)newWritebatch {
-    return [[LDBWritebatch writeBatchFromDB:self] retain];
+    return [LDBWritebatch writeBatchFromDB:self];
 }
 
 - (void) applyWritebatch:(LDBWritebatch *)writeBatch {
@@ -259,7 +254,6 @@ - (void)performWritebatch:(void (^)(LDBWritebatch *wb))block {
     LDBWritebatch *wb = [self newWritebatch];
     block(wb);
     [wb apply];
-    [wb release];
 }
 
 #pragma mark - Getters
@@ -382,14 +376,14 @@ - (void) removeAllObjectsWithPrefix:(id)prefix {
 #pragma mark - Selection
 
 - (NSArray *)allKeys {
-    NSMutableArray *keys = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
+    NSMutableArray *keys = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
     [self enumerateKeysUsingBlock:^(LevelDBKey *key, BOOL *stop) {
         [keys addObject:NSDataFromLevelDBKey(key)];
     }];
     return [NSArray arrayWithArray:keys];
 }
 - (NSArray *)keysByFilteringWithPredicate:(NSPredicate *)predicate {
-    NSMutableArray *keys = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
+    NSMutableArray *keys = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
     [self enumerateKeysAndObjectsBackward:NO lazily:NO
                             startingAtKey:nil
                       filteredByPredicate:predicate
@@ -416,7 +410,7 @@ - (NSDictionary *)dictionaryByFilteringWithPredicate:(NSPredicate *)predicate {
 }
 
 - (LDBSnapshot *) newSnapshot {
-    return [[LDBSnapshot snapshotFromDB:self] retain];
+    return [LDBSnapshot snapshotFromDB:self];
 }
 
 #pragma mark - Enumeration
@@ -678,11 +672,6 @@ - (BOOL) closed {
 }
 - (void) dealloc {
     [self close];
-    if (_path) [_path release];
-    if (_name) [_name release];
-    if (_encoder) [_encoder release];
-    if (_decoder) [_decoder release];
-    [super dealloc];
 }
 
 @end