diff --git a/lib/manager/pipenv/__snapshots__/update.spec.ts.snap b/lib/manager/pipenv/__snapshots__/update.spec.ts.snap
deleted file mode 100644
index ec1f8a30684317d050b149855bb9fe3e7d9a6f52..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/pipenv/__snapshots__/update.spec.ts.snap
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,79 +0,0 @@
-// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
-
-exports[`manager/pipenv/update updateDependency replaces existing value 1`] = `
-"[[source]]
-url = \\"https://pypi.org/simple\\"
-verify_ssl = true
-name = \\"pypi\\"
-
-[[source]]
-url = \\"http://example.com/private-pypi/\\"
-verify_ssl = false
-name = \\"private-pypi\\"
-
-[packages]
-some-package = \\"==1.0.1\\"
-some-other-package = \\"==1.0.0\\"
-\\"_invalid-package\\" = \\"==1.0.0\\"
-invalid-version = \\"==0 0\\"
-pytest-benchmark = {version = \\"==1.0.0\\", extras = [\\"histogram\\"]}
-
-[dev-packages]
-dev-package = \\"==0.1.0\\"
-
-[requires]
-python_version = \\"3.6\\"
-"
-`;
-
-exports[`manager/pipenv/update updateDependency replaces nested value 1`] = `
-"[[source]]
-url = \\"https://pypi.org/simple\\"
-verify_ssl = true
-name = \\"pypi\\"
-
-[[source]]
-url = \\"http://example.com/private-pypi/\\"
-verify_ssl = false
-name = \\"private-pypi\\"
-
-[packages]
-some-package = \\"==0.3.1\\"
-some-other-package = \\"==1.0.0\\"
-\\"_invalid-package\\" = \\"==1.0.0\\"
-invalid-version = \\"==0 0\\"
-pytest-benchmark = {version = \\"==1.9.1\\", extras = [\\"histogram\\"]}
-
-[dev-packages]
-dev-package = \\"==0.1.0\\"
-
-[requires]
-python_version = \\"3.6\\"
-"
-`;
-
-exports[`manager/pipenv/update updateDependency upgrades dev packages 1`] = `
-"[[source]]
-url = \\"https://pypi.org/simple\\"
-verify_ssl = true
-name = \\"pypi\\"
-
-[[source]]
-url = \\"http://example.com/private-pypi/\\"
-verify_ssl = false
-name = \\"private-pypi\\"
-
-[packages]
-some-package = \\"==0.3.1\\"
-some-other-package = \\"==1.0.0\\"
-\\"_invalid-package\\" = \\"==1.0.0\\"
-invalid-version = \\"==0 0\\"
-pytest-benchmark = {version = \\"==1.0.0\\", extras = [\\"histogram\\"]}
-
-[dev-packages]
-dev-package = \\"==0.2.0\\"
-
-[requires]
-python_version = \\"3.6\\"
-"
-`;
diff --git a/lib/manager/pipenv/index.ts b/lib/manager/pipenv/index.ts
index cdcd7b33abe2c81e4453a6758daedc1f7d992bd2..ee4199c26fab8c6e9249f858c19e8ef0431986aa 100644
--- a/lib/manager/pipenv/index.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/pipenv/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { LANGUAGE_PYTHON } from '../../constants/languages';
 
 export { extractPackageFile } from './extract';
-export { updateDependency } from './update';
 export { updateArtifacts } from './artifacts';
 
 export const language = LANGUAGE_PYTHON;
diff --git a/lib/manager/pipenv/update.spec.ts b/lib/manager/pipenv/update.spec.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 52a55ef1bd51496c47c00f98f6d93e5cd48a86a6..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/pipenv/update.spec.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-import { readFileSync } from 'fs';
-import { updateDependency } from './update';
-
-const pipfile = readFileSync(
-  'lib/manager/pipenv/__fixtures__/Pipfile1',
-  'utf8'
-);
-
-describe('manager/pipenv/update', () => {
-  describe('updateDependency', () => {
-    it('replaces existing value', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'some-package',
-        newValue: '==1.0.1',
-        depType: 'packages',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: pipfile, upgrade });
-      expect(res).not.toEqual(pipfile);
-      expect(res.includes(upgrade.newValue)).toBe(true);
-      expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
-    });
-    it('handles already replace values', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'some-package',
-        newValue: '==0.3.1',
-        depType: 'packages',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: pipfile, upgrade });
-      expect(res).toEqual(pipfile);
-    });
-    it('replaces nested value', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'pytest-benchmark',
-        newValue: '==1.9.1',
-        depType: 'packages',
-        managerData: { nestedVersion: true },
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: pipfile, upgrade });
-      expect(res).not.toEqual(pipfile);
-      expect(res.includes(upgrade.newValue)).toBe(true);
-      expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
-    });
-    it('upgrades dev packages', () => {
-      const upgrade = {
-        depName: 'dev-package',
-        newValue: '==0.2.0',
-        depType: 'dev-packages',
-      };
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: pipfile, upgrade });
-      expect(res).not.toEqual(pipfile);
-      expect(res.includes(upgrade.newValue)).toBe(true);
-      expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
-    });
-    it('returns null if error', () => {
-      const res = updateDependency({ fileContent: null, upgrade: null });
-      expect(res).toBeNull();
-    });
-  });
-});
diff --git a/lib/manager/pipenv/update.ts b/lib/manager/pipenv/update.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 504b162ed8d9c231775288ce7eaf5845269deac3..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/pipenv/update.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,68 +0,0 @@
-import { isEqual } from 'lodash';
-import { parse } from 'toml';
-import { logger } from '../../logger';
-import { UpdateDependencyConfig } from '../common';
-import { matchAt, replaceAt } from '../../util/string';
-
-export function updateDependency({
-  fileContent,
-  upgrade,
-}: UpdateDependencyConfig): string | null {
-  try {
-    const { depType, depName, newValue, managerData = {} } = upgrade;
-    const { nestedVersion } = managerData;
-    logger.debug(`pipenv.updateDependency(): ${newValue}`);
-    const parsedContents = parse(fileContent);
-    let oldVersion: string;
-    if (nestedVersion) {
-      oldVersion = parsedContents[depType][depName].version;
-    } else {
-      oldVersion = parsedContents[depType][depName];
-    }
-    if (oldVersion === newValue) {
-      logger.debug('Version is already updated');
-      return fileContent;
-    }
-    if (nestedVersion) {
-      parsedContents[depType][depName].version = newValue;
-    } else {
-      parsedContents[depType][depName] = newValue;
-    }
-    const searchString = `"${oldVersion}"`;
-    const newString = `"${newValue}"`;
-    let newFileContent = null;
-    let searchIndex = fileContent.indexOf(`[${depType}]`) + depType.length;
-    for (; searchIndex < fileContent.length; searchIndex += 1) {
-      // First check if we have a hit for the old version
-      if (matchAt(fileContent, searchIndex, searchString)) {
-        logger.trace(`Found match at index ${searchIndex}`);
-        // Now test if the result matches
-        const testContent = replaceAt(
-          fileContent,
-          searchIndex,
-          searchString,
-          newString
-        );
-        // Compare the parsed toml structure of old and new
-        if (isEqual(parsedContents, parse(testContent))) {
-          newFileContent = testContent;
-          break;
-        } else {
-          logger.debug('Mismatched replace at searchIndex ' + searchIndex);
-        }
-      }
-    }
-    // istanbul ignore if
-    if (!newFileContent) {
-      logger.debug(
-        { fileContent, parsedContents, depType, depName, newValue },
-        'Warning: updateDependency error'
-      );
-      return fileContent;
-    }
-    return newFileContent;
-  } catch (err) {
-    logger.debug({ err }, 'Error setting new package version');
-    return null;
-  }
-}