How big can an iOS text message file get?

I have chat histories going back to 2010. I'm sure there'll be people here with even longer chat histories.

Not sure if there's a limit, to be honest.

 

I think the older messages get compressed and uncompress as you scroll thru loading previous messages.

 

Mine go back to the original iPhone.

 

That's a long thread.

 

Mine too, from the day I bought it in 2008

 

What do you do with them?

----------

.

----------

.

 

In the space of those years, my Mother passed away and between those and family during that time, is something I can never delete.

 

It's like archiving in gmail. There always comes a day when you need to refer back to an old message I'm sure.

 

I know I can easily around 15,000 or more text messages since 2009. It doesn't lag either because it only loads the last 30 or so. I'd be interested to know the true count.