diff --git a/ui/launch.go b/ui/launch.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 35c1ee92..00000000
--- a/ui/launch.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
-package ui
-
-import (
-	"flag"
-	"fmt"
-	"os"
-	"os/exec"
-
-	"github.com/Safing/portbase/modules"
-	"github.com/Safing/portmaster/updates"
-)
-
-var (
-	launchUI       bool
-	launchNotifier bool
-)
-
-func init() {
-	flag.BoolVar(&launchUI, "ui", false, "launch user interface and exit")
-	flag.BoolVar(&launchNotifier, "notifier", false, "launch notifier and exit")
-}
-
-func launchUIByFlag() error {
-	if !launchUI && !launchNotifier {
-		return nil
-	}
-
-	err := updates.ReloadLatest()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if launchUI {
-		err = launch("app/portmaster-ui")
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-
-	if launchNotifier {
-		return launch("notifier/portmaster-notifier")
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
-func launch(identifier string) error {
-	file, err := updates.GetPlatformFile(identifier)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("%s currently not available: %s - you may need to first start portmaster and wait for it to fetch the update index", identifier, err)
-	}
-
-	// check permission
-	info, err := os.Stat(file.Path())
-	if info.Mode() != 0755 {
-		err := os.Chmod(file.Path(), 0755)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to set exec permissions on %s: %s", file.Path(), err)
-		}
-	}
-
-	// exec
-	cmd := exec.Command(file.Path())
-	err = cmd.Start()
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to start %s: %s", identifier, err)
-	}
-
-	// gracefully exit portmaster
-	return modules.ErrCleanExit
-}
diff --git a/ui/module.go b/ui/module.go
index 16acf9b1..2ca8cc65 100644
--- a/ui/module.go
+++ b/ui/module.go
@@ -9,10 +9,5 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 func prep() error {
-	err := launchUIByFlag()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	return registerRoutes()
 }