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On the Samsung Galaxy S3, there is an option under the default SMS application called "Beschränkung für SMS" ("limit for SMS"). It was set to "200 messages per conversation" when I bought the phone.

What does it do? What happens to messages exceeding this limit? Is there any reason that I can't save millions of messages per conversation?

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What happens is this, depending on the settings within SMS App, (really its actually MMS app), 'Delete Old Messages' option Delete old messages as limits are reached, if that was checked, then once it hits the threshold of 200 texts, Android will wipe them, to make room for more incoming messages.

Now, If that was not checked, Android does nothing but... it will slow down the handset to a crawl because it is loaded down with say, hundreds of messages, because Android is keeping track of it.

If you really care about your SMS, it might be best to use SMS Backup Restore and just back them up periodically.

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  • I just imported 3k messages from my last phone, and it slowed down to a crawl. I can't see much reason for that, but maybe I'll have to resort to storing very old messages somewhere else.
    – Anna
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 22:41
  • I thought it just erased the 201st message? And isn't this per contact? I think on the newer phones (with more internal memory), they allow for more sms storage without slowing the phone down... Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 22:55
  • The reason for the slowing down to a crawl is the fact that the SMS are stored in the internal database by Android in which is keeping track of, that's why you can view the entire thread.
    – t0mm13b
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 23:00
  • @nathpilland more internal memory does not mean more sms storage without slowing the phone down, its more for the apps storage really, the database will have even more room but at a cost of tracking all the SMS messages.
    – t0mm13b
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 23:01

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