diff --git a/components/app_update/CMakeLists.txt b/components/app_update/CMakeLists.txt
index 6c910d71cf..1f4d7051dd 100644
--- a/components/app_update/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/components/app_update/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ if(${target} STREQUAL "linux")
     return() # This component is not supported by the POSIX/Linux simulator
 endif()
 
-idf_component_register(SRCS "esp_ota_ops.c" "esp_ota_app_desc.c"
+idf_component_register(SRCS "esp_ota_ops.c"
                     INCLUDE_DIRS "include"
                     REQUIRES partition_table bootloader_support esp_app_format esp_bootloader_format esp_partition
                     PRIV_REQUIRES esptool_py efuse spi_flash)
diff --git a/components/app_update/esp_ota_app_desc.c b/components/app_update/esp_ota_app_desc.c
deleted file mode 100644
index f7c3d0d80d..0000000000
--- a/components/app_update/esp_ota_app_desc.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017-2025 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
- *
- * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
- */
-
-#include <assert.h>
-#include <sys/param.h>
-#include "esp_ota_ops.h"
-#include "esp_attr.h"
-#include "sdkconfig.h"