diff --git a/src/shell-app.c b/src/shell-app.c
index f9ddd2b31..24362394b 100644
--- a/src/shell-app.c
+++ b/src/shell-app.c
@@ -1300,24 +1300,6 @@ shell_app_request_quit (ShellApp   *app)
   return TRUE;
 }
 
-static void
-_gather_pid_callback (GDesktopAppInfo   *gapp,
-                      GPid               pid,
-                      gpointer           data)
-{
-  ShellApp *app;
-  ShellWindowTracker *tracker;
-
-  g_return_if_fail (data != NULL);
-
-  app = SHELL_APP (data);
-  tracker = shell_window_tracker_get_default ();
-
-  _shell_window_tracker_add_child_process_app (tracker,
-                                               pid,
-                                               app);
-}
-
 #ifdef HAVE_SYSTEMD
 /* This sets up the launched application to log to the journal
  * using its own identifier, instead of just "gnome-session".
@@ -1369,13 +1351,13 @@ shell_app_launch (ShellApp     *app,
 
   ret = g_desktop_app_info_launch_uris_as_manager (app->info, NULL,
                                                    context,
-                                                   G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH | G_SPAWN_DO_NOT_REAP_CHILD,
+                                                   G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH,
 #ifdef HAVE_SYSTEMD
                                                    app_child_setup, (gpointer)shell_app_get_id (app),
 #else
                                                    NULL, NULL,
 #endif
-                                                   _gather_pid_callback, app,
+                                                   NULL, NULL,
                                                    error);
   g_object_unref (context);
 
diff --git a/src/shell-window-tracker.c b/src/shell-window-tracker.c
index deef1b46f..a4d804df0 100644
--- a/src/shell-window-tracker.c
+++ b/src/shell-window-tracker.c
@@ -47,9 +47,6 @@ struct _ShellWindowTracker
 
   /* <MetaWindow * window, ShellApp *app> */
   GHashTable *window_to_app;
-
-  /* <int, ShellApp *app> */
-  GHashTable *launched_pid_to_app;
 };
 
 G_DEFINE_TYPE (ShellWindowTracker, shell_window_tracker, G_TYPE_OBJECT);
@@ -631,8 +628,6 @@ shell_window_tracker_init (ShellWindowTracker *self)
   self->window_to_app = g_hash_table_new_full (g_direct_hash, g_direct_equal,
                                                NULL, (GDestroyNotify) g_object_unref);
 
-  self->launched_pid_to_app = g_hash_table_new_full (NULL, NULL, NULL, (GDestroyNotify) g_object_unref);
-
   screen = shell_global_get_screen (shell_global_get ());
 
   g_signal_connect (G_OBJECT (screen), "startup-sequence-changed",
@@ -648,7 +643,6 @@ shell_window_tracker_finalize (GObject *object)
   ShellWindowTracker *self = SHELL_WINDOW_TRACKER (object);
 
   g_hash_table_destroy (self->window_to_app);
-  g_hash_table_destroy (self->launched_pid_to_app);
 
   G_OBJECT_CLASS (shell_window_tracker_parent_class)->finalize(object);
 }
@@ -717,40 +711,6 @@ shell_window_tracker_get_app_from_pid (ShellWindowTracker *tracker,
   return result;
 }
 
-static void
-on_child_exited (GPid      pid,
-                 gint      status,
-                 gpointer  unused_data)
-{
-  ShellWindowTracker *tracker;
-
-  tracker = shell_window_tracker_get_default ();
-
-  g_hash_table_remove (tracker->launched_pid_to_app, GINT_TO_POINTER((gint)pid));
-}
-
-void
-_shell_window_tracker_add_child_process_app (ShellWindowTracker *tracker,
-                                             GPid                pid,
-                                             ShellApp           *app)
-{
-  gpointer pid_ptr = GINT_TO_POINTER((int)pid);
-
-  if (g_hash_table_lookup (tracker->launched_pid_to_app,
-                           &pid_ptr))
-    return;
-
-  g_hash_table_insert (tracker->launched_pid_to_app,
-                       pid_ptr,
-                       g_object_ref (app));
-  g_child_watch_add (pid, on_child_exited, NULL);
-  /* TODO: rescan unassociated windows
-   * Unlikely in practice that the launched app gets ahead of us
-   * enough to map an X window before we get scheduled after the fork(),
-   * but adding this note for future reference.
-   */
-}
-
 static void
 set_focus_app (ShellWindowTracker  *tracker,
                ShellApp            *new_focus_app)