diff --git a/backend.php b/backend.php
index 860a3940c..d9a0af7c7 100644
--- a/backend.php
+++ b/backend.php
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 	/* Public calls compatibility shim */
 
-	$public_calls = array("globalUpdateFeeds", "rss", "getUnread", "getProfiles", "share");
+	$public_calls = array("rss", "getUnread", "getProfiles", "share");
 
 	if (array_search($op, $public_calls) !== false) {
 		header("Location: public.php?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']);
diff --git a/classes/Config.php b/classes/Config.php
index 1afa4f043..c413317be 100644
--- a/classes/Config.php
+++ b/classes/Config.php
@@ -53,13 +53,6 @@ class Config {
 	 * your tt-rss directory protected by other means (e.g. http auth). */
 	const SINGLE_USER_MODE = "SINGLE_USER_MODE";
 
-	/** enables fallback update mode where tt-rss tries to update feeds in
-	 * background while tt-rss is open in your browser.
-	 * if you don't have a lot of feeds and don't want to or can't run
-	 * background processes while not running tt-rss, this method is generally
-	 * viable to keep your feeds up to date. */
-	const SIMPLE_UPDATE_MODE = "SIMPLE_UPDATE_MODE";
-
 	/** use this PHP CLI executable to start various tasks */
 	const PHP_EXECUTABLE = "PHP_EXECUTABLE";
 
@@ -205,7 +198,6 @@ class Config {
 		Config::DB_PORT => [ "5432",										Config::T_STRING ],
 		Config::SELF_URL_PATH => [ "https://example.com/tt-rss", Config::T_STRING ],
 		Config::SINGLE_USER_MODE => [ "",								Config::T_BOOL ],
-		Config::SIMPLE_UPDATE_MODE => [ "",								Config::T_BOOL ],
 		Config::PHP_EXECUTABLE => [ "/usr/bin/php",					Config::T_STRING ],
 		Config::LOCK_DIRECTORY => [ "lock",								Config::T_STRING ],
 		Config::CACHE_DIR => [ "cache",									Config::T_STRING ],
diff --git a/classes/Handler_Public.php b/classes/Handler_Public.php
index abff08376..bb3667e2a 100644
--- a/classes/Handler_Public.php
+++ b/classes/Handler_Public.php
@@ -360,20 +360,6 @@ class Handler_Public extends Handler {
 		header('HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden');
 	}
 
-	function updateTask(): void {
-		PluginHost::getInstance()->run_hooks(PluginHost::HOOK_UPDATE_TASK);
-	}
-
-	function housekeepingTask(): void {
-		PluginHost::getInstance()->run_hooks(PluginHost::HOOK_HOUSE_KEEPING);
-	}
-
-	function globalUpdateFeeds(): void {
-		RPC::updaterandomfeed_real();
-
-		PluginHost::getInstance()->run_hooks(PluginHost::HOOK_UPDATE_TASK);
-	}
-
 	function login(): void {
 		if (!Config::get(Config::SINGLE_USER_MODE)) {
 
diff --git a/classes/RPC.php b/classes/RPC.php
index c6cdab7f6..4d133c272 100644
--- a/classes/RPC.php
+++ b/classes/RPC.php
@@ -250,77 +250,6 @@ class RPC extends Handler_Protected {
 		print json_encode(["wide" => $wide]);
 	}
 
-	static function updaterandomfeed_real(): void {
-		$default_interval = (int) Prefs::get_default(Prefs::DEFAULT_UPDATE_INTERVAL);
-
-		// Test if the feed need a update (update interval exceded).
-		$update_limit_qpart = "AND ((
-				update_interval = 0
-					AND (p.value IS NULL OR p.value != '-1')
-					AND last_updated < NOW() - CAST((COALESCE(p.value, '$default_interval') || ' minutes') AS INTERVAL)
-			) OR (
-				update_interval > 0
-					AND last_updated < NOW() - CAST((update_interval || ' minutes') AS INTERVAL)
-			) OR (
-				update_interval >= 0
-					AND (p.value IS NULL OR p.value != '-1')
-					AND (last_updated = '1970-01-01 00:00:00' OR last_updated IS NULL)
-			))";
-
-		// Test if feed is currently being updated by another process.
-		$updstart_thresh_qpart = 'AND (last_update_started IS NULL OR '
-			. Db::past_comparison_qpart('last_update_started', '<', 5, 'minute') . ')';
-
-		$pdo = Db::pdo();
-
-		// we could be invoked from public.php with no active session
-		if (!empty($_SESSION["uid"])) {
-			$owner_check_qpart = "AND f.owner_uid = ".$pdo->quote($_SESSION["uid"]);
-		} else {
-			$owner_check_qpart = "";
-		}
-
-		$query = "SELECT f.feed_url,f.id
-			FROM
-				ttrss_feeds f, ttrss_users u LEFT JOIN ttrss_user_prefs2 p ON
-					(p.owner_uid = u.id AND profile IS NULL AND pref_name = 'DEFAULT_UPDATE_INTERVAL')
-			WHERE
-				f.owner_uid = u.id AND
-				u.access_level NOT IN (".sprintf("%d, %d", UserHelper::ACCESS_LEVEL_DISABLED, UserHelper::ACCESS_LEVEL_READONLY).")
-				$owner_check_qpart
-				$update_limit_qpart
-				$updstart_thresh_qpart
-			ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 30";
-
-		$res = $pdo->query($query);
-
-		$num_updated = 0;
-
-		$tstart = time();
-
-		while ($line = $res->fetch()) {
-			$feed_id = $line["id"];
-
-			if (time() - $tstart < ini_get("max_execution_time") * 0.7) {
-				RSSUtils::update_rss_feed($feed_id, true);
-				++$num_updated;
-			} else {
-				break;
-			}
-		}
-
-		if ($num_updated > 0) {
-			print json_encode(array("message" => "UPDATE_COUNTERS",
-				"num_updated" => $num_updated));
-		} else {
-			print json_encode(array("message" => "NOTHING_TO_UPDATE"));
-		}
-	}
-
-	function updaterandomfeed(): void {
-		self::updaterandomfeed_real();
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * @param array<int, int> $ids
 	 */
@@ -466,7 +395,6 @@ class RPC extends Handler_Protected {
 		$params["num_feeds"] = (int) $num_feeds;
 		$params["hotkeys"] = $this->get_hotkeys_map();
 		$params["widescreen"] = (int) Prefs::get(Prefs::WIDESCREEN_MODE, $_SESSION['uid'], $profile);
-		$params['simple_update'] = Config::get(Config::SIMPLE_UPDATE_MODE);
 		$params["icon_indicator_white"] = $this->image_to_base64("images/indicator_white.gif");
 		$params["icon_oval"] = $this->image_to_base64("images/oval.svg");
 		$params["icon_three_dots"] = $this->image_to_base64("images/three-dots.svg");
diff --git a/classes/RSSUtils.php b/classes/RSSUtils.php
index 67ee3709d..eef0d8540 100644
--- a/classes/RSSUtils.php
+++ b/classes/RSSUtils.php
@@ -129,7 +129,6 @@ class RSSUtils {
 			))";
 
 		// Test if feed is currently being updated by another process.
-		// TODO: Update RPC::updaterandomfeed_real() to also use 10 minutes?
 		$updstart_thresh_qpart = 'AND (last_update_started IS NULL OR '
 			. Db::past_comparison_qpart('last_update_started', '<', 10, 'minute') . ')';
 
diff --git a/js/App.js b/js/App.js
index 0c4c72f22..f1c4bc1c3 100644
--- a/js/App.js
+++ b/js/App.js
@@ -829,11 +829,6 @@ const App = {
 
          Headlines.initScrollHandler();
 
-         if (this.getInitParam("simple_update")) {
-            console.log("scheduling simple feed updater...");
-            window.setInterval(() => { Feeds.updateRandom() }, 30 * 1000);
-         }
-
          if (this.getInitParam('check_for_updates')) {
             window.setInterval(() => {
                this.checkForUpdates();
diff --git a/js/Feeds.js b/js/Feeds.js
index 9088b7efc..7a58a10a4 100644
--- a/js/Feeds.js
+++ b/js/Feeds.js
@@ -743,13 +743,6 @@ const	Feeds = {
 		dialog.show();
 
 	},
-	updateRandom: function() {
-		console.log("in update_random_feed");
-
-		xhr.json("backend.php", {op: "RPC", method: "updaterandomfeed"}, () => {
-			//
-		});
-	},
 	renderIcon: function(feed_id, exists) {
 		const icon_url = App.getInitParam("icons_url") + '?' + dojo.objectToQuery({op: 'feed_icon', id: feed_id});