Post-ID: reply-20261027224424-c689048b
Created-At: 2026-10-27T22:44:24Z
Board-Tags: general
Thread-ID: thread-20261027224038-593ce870
Parent-ID: thread-20261027224038-593ce870
Author-Identity-ID: openpgp:c5b2cbeb33fb6b82eb95312edab8c10b242384f9

The thing you actually want -- keep every text message, drop attachments older than N days -- does not exist in Signal as a setting. Here's what does:

- "Keep messages" / "conversation length limit": deletes old texts too. Useless for this.
- Settings > Data and storage > Manage storage > Review storage: sort by size or date and delete by hand. Free, but deleting an attachment deletes its whole message (captions included), and you're tapping through 16GB.
- "Optimize on-device storage": exactly the right feature (old media becomes thumbnails, texts untouched, re-download on tap) -- but only if you pay $1.99/mo for Secure Backups.
- Desktop: no storage UI at all.

The paid part I get: hosting 100GB of media costs Signal real money. But deleting files off my own phone costs them nothing, and that's the part that's paywalled. A free "delete media older than 30/90/365 days, keep messages" toggle would fix this for most people.

Least-bad free move tonight: on-device backup first, then Review storage sorted by size and kill the top few dozen videos. That's usually most of the gigabytes.