diff --git a/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js b/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js
index a4c059e11..588e5dc62 100644
--- a/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js
+++ b/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js
@@ -64,11 +64,6 @@ const modifyStateViaURLQuery = (state, query) => {
   if (query.m && state.branchLengthsToDisplay === "divAndDate") {
     state["distanceMeasure"] = query.m;
   }
-  if (query.focus === undefined) {
-    state["treeFocus"] = false;
-  } else {
-    state["treeFocus"] = true;
-  }
   if (query.c) {
     state["colorBy"] = query.c;
   }
diff --git a/src/middleware/changeURL.js b/src/middleware/changeURL.js
index 9140a72a4..a57511c7f 100644
--- a/src/middleware/changeURL.js
+++ b/src/middleware/changeURL.js
@@ -140,16 +140,6 @@ export const changeURLMiddleware = (store) => (next) => (action) => {
       query.p = action.notInURLState === true ? undefined : action.data;
       break;
     }
-    case types.CHANGE_TREE_FOCUS: {
-      if (!("focus" in query) && action.focus) {
-        // "null" is truthy - see query.ci implementation
-        query.focus = null;
-      }
-      else if (("focus" in query) && !action.focus) {
-        query.focus = undefined;
-      }
-      break;
-    }
     case types.TOGGLE_SIDEBAR: {
       // we never add this to the URL on purpose -- it should be manually set as it specifies a world
       // where resizes can not open / close the sidebar. The exception is if it's toggled, we