diff --git a/lib/manager/mix/index.ts b/lib/manager/mix/index.ts
index e47cac35e2cbea7cdf40f6164da9ceba89c31179..2f59d3edf2923692347395d5b81ea07f7b0362fa 100644
--- a/lib/manager/mix/index.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/mix/index.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { LANGUAGE_ELIXIR } from '../../constants/languages';
 import * as hexVersioning from '../../versioning/hex';
 
 export { extractPackageFile } from './extract';
-export { updateDependency } from './update';
 export { updateArtifacts } from './artifacts';
 
 export const language = LANGUAGE_ELIXIR;
diff --git a/lib/manager/mix/update.spec.ts b/lib/manager/mix/update.spec.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 12885902a8a1348bf117cd3c7a4b9c0cf7826be1..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/mix/update.spec.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-import fs from 'fs-extra';
-import path from 'path';
-import { updateDependency } from '.';
-
-const sample = fs.readFileSync(
-  path.resolve(__dirname, './__fixtures__/mix.exs'),
-  'utf-8'
-);
-
-describe('lib/manager/mix/update', () => {
-  describe('updateDependency', () => {
-    it('replaces existing value', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'postgrex',
-        managerData: { lineNumber: 18 },
-        newValue: '~> 0.8.2',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: sample, upgrade });
-      expect(res).not.toEqual(sample);
-      expect(res.includes(upgrade.newValue)).toBe(true);
-    });
-    it('return the same', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'postgrex',
-        managerData: { lineNumber: 18 },
-        newValue: '~> 0.8.1',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: sample, upgrade });
-      expect(res).toEqual(sample);
-    });
-    it('returns null if wrong line', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'postgrex',
-        managerData: { lineNumber: 19 },
-        newValue: '~> 0.8.2',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: sample, upgrade });
-      expect(res).toBeNull();
-    });
-    it('returns null for unsupported depType', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'cowboy',
-        managerData: { lineNumber: 19 },
-        newValue: '~> 0.8.2',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: sample, upgrade });
-      expect(res).toBeNull();
-    });
-  });
-});
diff --git a/lib/manager/mix/update.ts b/lib/manager/mix/update.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 6a46b11149189fd587b22c567ecba16e1aa5a2c8..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/mix/update.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-import { logger } from '../../logger';
-import { UpdateDependencyConfig } from '../common';
-
-export function updateDependency({
-  fileContent,
-  upgrade,
-}: UpdateDependencyConfig): string | null {
-  logger.debug(`mix.updateDependency: ${upgrade.newValue}`);
-
-  const lines = fileContent.split('\n');
-  const lineToChange = lines[upgrade.managerData.lineNumber];
-
-  if (!lineToChange.includes(upgrade.depName)) {
-    return null;
-  }
-
-  const newLine = lineToChange.replace(/"(.*?)"/, `"${upgrade.newValue}"`);
-
-  if (newLine === lineToChange) {
-    logger.debug('No changes necessary');
-    return fileContent;
-  }
-
-  lines[upgrade.managerData.lineNumber] = newLine;
-  return lines.join('\n');
-}