diff --git a/release/files_common b/release/files_common
index b41b511dd0..a0fc3743ff 100644
--- a/release/files_common
+++ b/release/files_common
@@ -190,7 +190,6 @@ selfdrive/common/util.[c,h]
 selfdrive/common/efd.[c,h]
 selfdrive/common/cqueue.[c,h]
 selfdrive/common/clutil.[c,h]
-selfdrive/common/messaging.h
 selfdrive/common/params.h
 selfdrive/common/params.cc
 selfdrive/common/mutex.h
diff --git a/selfdrive/boardd/boardd.cc b/selfdrive/boardd/boardd.cc
index ad6363440f..c6a0a7a40e 100644
--- a/selfdrive/boardd/boardd.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/boardd/boardd.cc
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 #include "cereal/gen/cpp/car.capnp.h"
 
 #include "common/util.h"
-#include "common/messaging.h"
 #include "common/params.h"
 #include "common/swaglog.h"
 #include "common/timing.h"
diff --git a/selfdrive/common/messaging.h b/selfdrive/common/messaging.h
deleted file mode 100644
index dd1198e826..0000000000
--- a/selfdrive/common/messaging.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-// the c version of cereal/messaging.py
-
-#include <zmq.h>
-
-// TODO: refactor to take in service instead of endpoint?
-void *sub_sock(void *ctx, const char *endpoint) {
-  void* sock = zmq_socket(ctx, ZMQ_SUB);
-  assert(sock);
-  zmq_setsockopt(sock, ZMQ_SUBSCRIBE, "", 0);
-  int reconnect_ivl = 500;
-  zmq_setsockopt(sock, ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL_MAX, &reconnect_ivl, sizeof(reconnect_ivl));
-  zmq_connect(sock, endpoint);
-  return sock;
-}
-
diff --git a/selfdrive/locationd/paramsd.cc b/selfdrive/locationd/paramsd.cc
index b5fa380c37..3841ccc5bb 100644
--- a/selfdrive/locationd/paramsd.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/locationd/paramsd.cc
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 #include "json11.hpp"
 
 #include "common/swaglog.h"
-#include "common/messaging.h"
 #include "common/params.h"
 #include "common/timing.h"