diff --git a/core/core.js b/core/core.js
index 3b4b3e4c..60023049 100644
--- a/core/core.js
+++ b/core/core.js
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ let gGlobalSettings = {
 	index: "/~core/apps/",
 };
 
-let kGlobalSettingsFile = "data/global/settings.json";
-
 let kPingInterval = 60 * 1000;
 
 function printError(out, error) {
@@ -769,8 +767,7 @@ ssb.addEventListener('connections', function() {
 });
 
 async function loadSettings() {
-	let data;
-
+	let data = {};
 	try {
 		let settings = new Database('core').get('settings');
 		if (settings) {
@@ -779,19 +776,7 @@ async function loadSettings() {
 	} catch (error) {
 		print("Settings not found in database:", error);
 	}
-
-	if (!data) {
-		try {
-			data = JSON.parse(utf8Decode(await File.readFile(kGlobalSettingsFile)));
-			new Database('core').set('settings', JSON.stringify(data));
-		} catch (error) {
-			print("Unable to load settings from " + kGlobalSettingsFile + ":", error);
-		}
-	}
-
-	if (data) {
-		gGlobalSettings = data;
-	}
+	gGlobalSettings = data;
 }
 
 function sendStats() {