diff --git a/src/components/NetworkService.ts b/src/components/NetworkService.ts
index 69a6ae0cc..7d77d1c46 100644
--- a/src/components/NetworkService.ts
+++ b/src/components/NetworkService.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
-import {
-  useIconicTaxa,
-  useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused,
-} from "sharedHooks";
+import { useIconicTaxa } from "sharedHooks";
 
 import useTaxonCommonNames from "./hooks/useTaxonCommonNames";
 import useWorkQueue from "./hooks/useWorkQueue";
 
 const NetworkService = ( ) => {
-  useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused( );
-
   useIconicTaxa( { reload: true } );
   // This only runs when App updates... which is rarely. It works for Settings
   // b/c it generally updates currentUser
diff --git a/src/sharedHooks/index.ts b/src/sharedHooks/index.ts
index 7b426c9c9..a2a93d5d0 100644
--- a/src/sharedHooks/index.ts
+++ b/src/sharedHooks/index.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ export { default as useLocalObservations } from "./useLocalObservations";
 export { default as useLocationPermission } from "./useLocationPermission";
 export { default as useNavigateToObsEdit } from "./useNavigateToObsEdit";
 export { default as useObservationsUpdates } from "./useObservationsUpdates";
-export { default as useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused } from "./useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused";
 export { default as useQuery } from "./useQuery";
 export { default as useRemoteObservation } from "./useRemoteObservation";
 export { default as useScrollToOffset } from "./useScrollToOffset";
diff --git a/src/sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused.js b/src/sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused.js
deleted file mode 100644
index d46840732..000000000
--- a/src/sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-// @flow
-
-import { RealmContext } from "providers/contexts";
-import { useCallback, useEffect } from "react";
-import { AppState } from "react-native";
-import safeRealmWrite from "sharedHelpers/safeRealmWrite";
-
-const { useRealm } = RealmContext;
-
-const useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused = () => {
-  const realm = useRealm();
-
-  const setObservationUpdatesViewedRealm = useCallback( () => {
-    // Set all observations to viewed
-    const observations = realm
-      .objects( "Observation" )
-      .filtered( "comments_viewed == false OR identifications_viewed == false" );
-    if ( observations.length === 0 ) { return; }
-    safeRealmWrite( realm, () => {
-      observations.forEach( observation => {
-        observation.comments_viewed = true;
-        observation.identifications_viewed = true;
-      } );
-    }, "setting comments_viewed and ids_viewed to true in useObservationsUpdatesWhenFocused" );
-  }, [realm] );
-
-  const onAppStateChange = useCallback(
-    status => {
-      // if the app is coming back from the background, set all observations to viewed
-      if ( status === "active" ) {
-        setObservationUpdatesViewedRealm();
-      }
-    },
-    [setObservationUpdatesViewedRealm],
-  );
-
-  useEffect( () => {
-    // subscribe to app state changes
-    const subscription = AppState.addEventListener(
-      "change",
-      onAppStateChange,
-    );
-    setObservationUpdatesViewedRealm();
-
-    // unsubscribe on unmount
-    return () => subscription?.remove();
-  }, [onAppStateChange, setObservationUpdatesViewedRealm] );
-};
-
-export default useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused;
diff --git a/tests/integration/sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused.test.js b/tests/integration/sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused.test.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 064987a74..000000000
--- a/tests/integration/sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused.test.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,63 +0,0 @@
-import { renderHook } from "@testing-library/react-native";
-import safeRealmWrite from "sharedHelpers/safeRealmWrite";
-import useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused from "sharedHooks/useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused";
-import factory from "tests/factory";
-import setupUniqueRealm from "tests/helpers/uniqueRealm";
-
-// UNIQUE REALM SETUP
-const mockRealmIdentifier = __filename;
-const { mockRealmModelsIndex, uniqueRealmBeforeAll, uniqueRealmAfterAll } = setupUniqueRealm(
-  mockRealmIdentifier,
-);
-jest.mock( "realmModels/index", ( ) => mockRealmModelsIndex );
-jest.mock( "providers/contexts", ( ) => {
-  const originalModule = jest.requireActual( "providers/contexts" );
-  return {
-    __esModule: true,
-    ...originalModule,
-    RealmContext: {
-      ...originalModule.RealmContext,
-      useRealm: ( ) => global.mockRealms[mockRealmIdentifier],
-      useQuery: ( ) => [],
-    },
-  };
-} );
-beforeAll( uniqueRealmBeforeAll );
-afterAll( uniqueRealmAfterAll );
-// /UNIQUE REALM SETUP
-
-jest.mock( "react-native/Libraries/AppState/AppState", () => ( {
-  __esModule: true,
-  default: {
-    addEventListener: jest.fn( ( event, callback ) => {
-      callback( "active" );
-    } ),
-  },
-} ) );
-
-const mockObservations = [
-  factory( "LocalObservation", { comments_viewed: false, identifications_viewed: false } ),
-  factory( "LocalObservation", { comments_viewed: true, identifications_viewed: false } ),
-  factory( "LocalObservation", { comments_viewed: false, identifications_viewed: true } ),
-  factory( "LocalObservation", { comments_viewed: true, identifications_viewed: true } ),
-];
-
-describe( "useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused", () => {
-  beforeAll( ( ) => {
-    // Write mock observations to realm
-    safeRealmWrite( global.mockRealms[mockRealmIdentifier], ( ) => {
-      mockObservations.forEach( o => {
-        global.mockRealms[mockRealmIdentifier].create( "Observation", o );
-      } );
-    }, "write observations to realm, useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused test" );
-  } );
-
-  it( "should reset state of all observations in realm", () => {
-    renderHook( () => useObservationUpdatesWhenFocused() );
-    const observations = global.mockRealms[mockRealmIdentifier].objects( "Observation" );
-    observations.forEach( o => {
-      expect( o.comments_viewed ).toBe( true );
-      expect( o.identifications_viewed ).toBe( true );
-    } );
-  } );
-} );