When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I played more bass than electric guitar.
I had very little money and it took a lot of effort to get to the music store which was 10 miles away without a car or a bus route.
I did indeed boil my bass strings from time to time and IIRC, it did actually improve the lifespan in terms of brightness and tone because huge amounts of grease, dirt and dead skin come out of the thick windings. They certainly looked cleaner.
What was left behind in the water was really gross.
But anyway, if you play bass a lot and can't easily afford new strings or don't have easy access to a new set of strings, then from my experience in the 1980s, I'd say it's worth doing. But only if you've had the strings on for the best part of a year or more.