diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index bf34fa93f..6554ec8c1 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-[submodule "jni/messenger-backend"]
-	path = jni/messenger-backend
-	url = https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-core
 [submodule "jni/deltachat-core-rust"]
 	path = jni/deltachat-core-rust
 	url = https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-core-rust
diff --git a/jni/messenger-backend b/jni/messenger-backend
deleted file mode 160000
index 2bb1c280d..000000000
--- a/jni/messenger-backend
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit 2bb1c280d5db07ed3974d57a4b2f128bca1da9f0