diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/BoardActivity.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/BoardActivity.java
index 492a07e8c..cbf17df1b 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/BoardActivity.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/BoardActivity.java
@@ -259,7 +259,6 @@ public class BoardActivity extends Activity implements UtilCtxt {
                                    }
                                }
                            } );
-            Utils.setThread( m_jniThread );
             m_jniThread.start();
 
             m_view.startHandling( m_jniThread, m_jniGamePtr, m_gi );
@@ -319,7 +318,6 @@ public class BoardActivity extends Activity implements UtilCtxt {
         }
 
         if ( null != m_jniThread ) {
-            Utils.setThread( null );
             m_jniThread.waitToStop();
             Utils.logf( "onDestroy(): waitToStop() returned" );
 
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/Utils.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/Utils.java
index c6a7b5ef3..fd6753522 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/Utils.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/Utils.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import org.eehouse.android.xw4.jni.JNIThread.*;
 
 public class Utils {
     static final String TAG = "EJAVA";
-    private static JNIThread s_jniThread = null;
+    // private static JNIThread s_jniThread = null;
     private static Time s_time = new Time();
 
     private Utils() {}
@@ -55,11 +55,6 @@ public class Utils {
         Toast.makeText( context, text, Toast.LENGTH_LONG ).show();
     }
 
-    public static void setThread( JNIThread thread )
-    {
-        s_jniThread = thread;
-    }
-
     public static byte[] savedGame( Context context, String path )
     {
         byte[] stream = null;