Core Data Limitations for iOS

Question

Is there any limitations exist in Core Data? e.g; how many max rows can be in a table/Entity? How much data can reside in the DB?

In general if some document can describe all kind of limitations which exist inside the Core Data (for iOS)?

Update: w.r.t answer given by @TechZen, my question was implied to the fact that I/Core Data will be using sqlite at the backend. But to just clear the point, I am intended to use sqlite and when I am talking about limitations of Core Data, I am indirectly asking limit of sqlite (database store).

So is there any limitations imposed by core data other than the limitations of the sqlite when we are talking about iOS environment?

Answer 1

There are no logical limitation on Core Data itself beyond those imposed by situational memory, disk space etc. However, if you use an SQLite store, you get the default limitations of SQLite itself. If you are writing for iOS, you will never hit those limits.

Really the only practical limitation you hit with Core Data comes from memory issues caused by reading in large blobs e.g. trying to store images or audio in an SQLite store. That can be avoided by storing the blobs in external files.

As an aside, I would warn you that I can tell by the way you phrased the question, that you are thinking about Core Data wrong.

Core Data is not an object wrapper for SQL. Core Data is not SQL. Entities are not tables. Objects are not rows. Columns are not attributes. Core Data is an object graph management system that may or may not persist the object graph and may or may not use SQL far behind the scenes to do so. Trying to think of Core Data in SQL terms will cause you to completely misunderstand Core Data and result in much grief and wasted time.