diff --git a/common/flatpak-utils-private.h b/common/flatpak-utils-private.h
index 334a646e..83e25e75 100644
--- a/common/flatpak-utils-private.h
+++ b/common/flatpak-utils-private.h
@@ -124,10 +124,6 @@ gboolean flatpak_variant_save (GFile        *dest,
                                GVariant     *variant,
                                GCancellable *cancellable,
                                GError      **error);
-GVariant * flatpak_gvariant_new_empty_string_dict (void);
-void    flatpak_variant_builder_init_from_variant (GVariantBuilder *builder,
-                                                   const char      *type,
-                                                   GVariant        *variant);
 gboolean flatpak_variant_bsearch_str (GVariant   *array,
                                       const char *str,
                                       int        *out_pos);
diff --git a/common/flatpak-utils.c b/common/flatpak-utils.c
index a04501d8..760e09d2 100644
--- a/common/flatpak-utils.c
+++ b/common/flatpak-utils.c
@@ -2164,14 +2164,6 @@ flatpak_open_in_tmpdir_at (int             tmpdir_fd,
   return TRUE;
 }
 
-GVariant *
-flatpak_gvariant_new_empty_string_dict (void)
-{
-  g_auto(GVariantBuilder) builder = FLATPAK_VARIANT_BUILDER_INITIALIZER;
-  g_variant_builder_init (&builder, G_VARIANT_TYPE ("a{sv}"));
-  return g_variant_builder_end (&builder);
-}
-
 gboolean
 flatpak_variant_save (GFile        *dest,
                       GVariant     *variant,
@@ -2201,24 +2193,6 @@ flatpak_variant_save (GFile        *dest,
   return TRUE;
 }
 
-void
-flatpak_variant_builder_init_from_variant (GVariantBuilder *builder,
-                                           const char      *type,
-                                           GVariant        *variant)
-{
-  gint i, n;
-
-  g_variant_builder_init (builder, G_VARIANT_TYPE (type));
-
-  n = g_variant_n_children (variant);
-  for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
-    {
-      GVariant *child = g_variant_get_child_value (variant, i);
-      g_variant_builder_add_value (builder, child);
-      g_variant_unref (child);
-    }
-}
-
 gboolean
 flatpak_variant_bsearch_str (GVariant   *array,
                              const char *str,