diff --git a/_locales/en/messages.json b/_locales/en/messages.json
index af3f62d7d..6750a6e39 100644
--- a/_locales/en/messages.json
+++ b/_locales/en/messages.json
@@ -137,6 +137,10 @@
   "typingIndicatorsSettingDescription": "See and share when messages are being typed (applies to all sessions).",
   "typingIndicatorsSettingTitle": "Typing Indicators",
   "zoomFactorSettingTitle": "Zoom Factor",
+  "pruneSettingTitle": "Prune Old Open Group Messages",
+  "pruneSettingDescription": "When Session starts, prune messages older than this from groups with > 2000 messages (0 = no pruning)",
+  "pruneSettingUnit": "month",
+  "pruneSettingUnits": "months",
   "notificationSettingsDialog": "When messages arrive, display notifications that reveal...",
   "disableNotifications": "Mute notifications",
   "nameAndMessage": "Name and content",
diff --git a/ts/components/settings/PruningSessionSlider.tsx b/ts/components/settings/PruningSessionSlider.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fad195771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ts/components/settings/PruningSessionSlider.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import Slider from 'rc-slider';
+import React from 'react';
+// tslint:disable-next-line: no-submodule-imports
+import useUpdate from 'react-use/lib/useUpdate';
+import { SessionSettingsItemWrapper } from './SessionSettingListItem';
+import { ToastUtils } from '../../session/utils';
+
+export const PruningSessionSlider = (props: { onSliderChange?: (value: number) => void }) => {
+  const forceUpdate = useUpdate();
+  const handleSlider = (valueToForward: number) => {
+    props?.onSliderChange?.(valueToForward);
+    window.setSettingValue('prune-setting', valueToForward);
+    ToastUtils.pushRestartNeeded();
+    forceUpdate();
+  };
+  const currentValueFromSettings = window.getSettingValue('prune-setting') || 0;
+
+  return (
+    <SessionSettingsItemWrapper title={window.i18n('pruneSettingTitle')} description={window.i18n('pruneSettingDescription')} inline={false}>
+      <div className="slider-wrapper">
+        <Slider
+          dots={true}
+          step={1}
+          min={0}
+          max={12}
+          defaultValue={currentValueFromSettings}
+          onAfterChange={handleSlider}
+        />
+
+        <div className="slider-info">
+          <p>{currentValueFromSettings} {currentValueFromSettings === 1 ? window.i18n('pruneSettingUnit') : window.i18n('pruneSettingUnits')}</p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </SessionSettingsItemWrapper>
+  );
+};
diff --git a/ts/components/settings/section/CategoryAppearance.tsx b/ts/components/settings/section/CategoryAppearance.tsx
index 39e1b237b..d14b21d6d 100644
--- a/ts/components/settings/section/CategoryAppearance.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/settings/section/CategoryAppearance.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import { SessionButtonColor } from '../../basic/SessionButton';
 
 import { SessionSettingButtonItem, SessionToggleWithDescription } from '../SessionSettingListItem';
 import { ZoomingSessionSlider } from '../ZoomingSessionSlider';
+import { PruningSessionSlider } from '../PruningSessionSlider';
 
 async function toggleLinkPreviews() {
   const newValue = !window.getSettingValue('link-preview-setting');
@@ -119,6 +120,7 @@ export const SettingsCategoryAppearance = (props: { hasPassword: boolean | null
           description={window.i18n('audioMessageAutoplayDescription')}
           active={audioAutoPlay}
         />
+        <PruningSessionSlider />
         <ZoomingSessionSlider />
         <SessionSettingButtonItem
           title={window.i18n('surveyTitle')}
diff --git a/ts/mains/main_node.ts b/ts/mains/main_node.ts
index d311381cf..b2b2dda9b 100644
--- a/ts/mains/main_node.ts
+++ b/ts/mains/main_node.ts
@@ -98,6 +98,16 @@ async function getSpellCheckSetting() {
   return json.value;
 }
 
+async function getPruneSetting() {
+  const json = sqlNode.getItemById('prune-setting');
+  // Default to `6` if setting doesn't exist yet
+  if (!json) {
+    return 6;
+  }
+
+  return json.value;
+}
+
 function showWindow() {
   if (!mainWindow) {
     return;
@@ -750,9 +760,12 @@ async function showMainWindow(sqlKey: string, passwordAttempt = false) {
     messages: locale.messages,
     passwordAttempt,
   });
+  const pruneSetting = await getPruneSetting();
   appStartInitialSpellcheckSetting = await getSpellCheckSetting();
   sqlChannels.initializeSqlChannel();
 
+  sqlNode.cleanUpOldOpengroups(pruneSetting);
+
   await initAttachmentsChannel({
     userDataPath,
   });
diff --git a/ts/node/sql.ts b/ts/node/sql.ts
index 7ca85ba7e..a37c8805a 100644
--- a/ts/node/sql.ts
+++ b/ts/node/sql.ts
@@ -1550,7 +1550,6 @@ async function initializeSql({
 
     console.info('total message count before cleaning: ', getMessageCount());
     console.info('total conversation count before cleaning: ', getConversationCount());
-    cleanUpOldOpengroups();
     cleanUpUnusedNodeForKeyEntries();
     printDbStats();
 
@@ -3405,7 +3404,7 @@ function cleanUpMessagesJson() {
   console.info(`cleanUpMessagesJson took ${Date.now() - start}ms`);
 }
 
-function cleanUpOldOpengroups() {
+function cleanUpOldOpengroups(pruneSetting: number) {
   const ourNumber = getItemById('number_id');
   if (!ourNumber || !ourNumber.value) {
     console.info('cleanUpOldOpengroups: ourNumber is not set');
@@ -3429,42 +3428,46 @@ function cleanUpOldOpengroups() {
 
   db.transaction(() => {
     dropFtsAndTriggers(db);
-    v2Convos.forEach(convo => {
-      const convoId = convo.id;
-      const messagesInConvoBefore = getMessagesCountByConversation(convoId);
-
-      if (messagesInConvoBefore >= maxMessagePerOpengroupConvo) {
-        const minute = 1000 * 60;
-        const sixMonths = minute * 60 * 24 * 30 * 6;
-        const messagesTimestampToRemove = Date.now() - sixMonths;
-        const countToRemove = assertGlobalInstance()
-          .prepare(
-            `SELECT count(*) from ${MESSAGES_TABLE} WHERE serverTimestamp <= $serverTimestamp AND conversationId = $conversationId;`
-          )
-          .get({ conversationId: convoId, serverTimestamp: Date.now() - sixMonths })['count(*)'];
-        const start = Date.now();
-
-        assertGlobalInstance()
-          .prepare(
-            `
-      DELETE FROM ${MESSAGES_TABLE} WHERE serverTimestamp <= $serverTimestamp AND conversationId = $conversationId`
-          )
-          .run({ conversationId: convoId, serverTimestamp: messagesTimestampToRemove }); // delete messages older than sixMonths
-        const messagesInConvoAfter = getMessagesCountByConversation(convoId);
-
-        console.info(
-          `Cleaning ${countToRemove} messages older than 6 months in public convo: ${convoId} took ${Date.now() -
-            start}ms. Old message count: ${messagesInConvoBefore}, new message count: ${messagesInConvoAfter}`
-        );
-
-        const unreadCount = getUnreadCountByConversation(convoId);
-        const convoProps = getConversationById(convoId);
-        if (convoProps) {
-          convoProps.unreadCount = unreadCount;
-          updateConversation(convoProps);
+    if (pruneSetting !== 0) {
+      v2Convos.forEach(convo => {
+        const convoId = convo.id;
+        const messagesInConvoBefore = getMessagesCountByConversation(convoId);
+
+        if (messagesInConvoBefore >= maxMessagePerOpengroupConvo) {
+          const minute = 1000 * 60;
+          const userDefinedMonths = minute * 60 * 24 * 30 * pruneSetting;
+          const messagesTimestampToRemove = Date.now() - userDefinedMonths;
+          const countToRemove = assertGlobalInstance()
+            .prepare(
+              `SELECT count(*) from ${MESSAGES_TABLE} WHERE serverTimestamp <= $serverTimestamp AND conversationId = $conversationId;`
+            )
+            .get({ conversationId: convoId, serverTimestamp: Date.now() - userDefinedMonths })['count(*)'];
+          const start = Date.now();
+
+          assertGlobalInstance()
+            .prepare(
+              `
+        DELETE FROM ${MESSAGES_TABLE} WHERE serverTimestamp <= $serverTimestamp AND conversationId = $conversationId`
+            )
+            .run({ conversationId: convoId, serverTimestamp: messagesTimestampToRemove }); // delete messages older than the user-specified age.
+          const messagesInConvoAfter = getMessagesCountByConversation(convoId);
+
+          console.info(
+            `Cleaning ${countToRemove} messages older than ${pruneSetting} months in public convo: ${convoId} took ${Date.now() -
+              start}ms. Old message count: ${messagesInConvoBefore}, new message count: ${messagesInConvoAfter}`
+          );
+
+          const unreadCount = getUnreadCountByConversation(convoId);
+          const convoProps = getConversationById(convoId);
+          if (convoProps) {
+            convoProps.unreadCount = unreadCount;
+            updateConversation(convoProps);
+          }
         }
-      }
-    });
+      });
+    } else {
+      console.info('Skipping cleaning messages in public convos.');
+    };
 
     // now, we might have a bunch of private conversation, without any interaction and no messages
     // those are the conversation of the old members in the opengroups we just cleaned.
@@ -3680,6 +3683,7 @@ export const sqlNode = {
   getPubkeysInPublicConversation,
   getAllGroupsInvolvingId,
   removeAllConversations,
+  cleanUpOldOpengroups,
 
   searchConversations,
   searchMessages,
diff --git a/ts/types/LocalizerKeys.ts b/ts/types/LocalizerKeys.ts
index 412e6c60d..ebbf75f96 100644
--- a/ts/types/LocalizerKeys.ts
+++ b/ts/types/LocalizerKeys.ts
@@ -162,6 +162,10 @@ export type LocalizerKeys =
   | 'copySessionID'
   | 'timerOption_0_seconds'
   | 'zoomFactorSettingTitle'
+  | 'pruneSettingTitle'
+  | 'pruneSettingDescription'
+  | 'pruneSettingUnit'
+  | 'pruneSettingUnits'
   | 'unableToCall'
   | 'callMissedTitle'
   | 'done'