diff --git a/building/compile_po.py b/building/compile_po.py
index 972d12c..4cb75c0 100644
--- a/building/compile_po.py
+++ b/building/compile_po.py
@@ -1,36 +1,6 @@
-import polib
-import pathlib
-
-libRoot = pathlib.Path(__file__).absolute().parent.parent
-root = libRoot / "src"
-print(f"compiling .po files in {root.absolute()}")
-
-def compilePoFiles(root=root, errIfEmpty=True):
-    """Looks for all paths matching **/*.po and compiles to a .mo file using
-    python polib
-
-    :param: root
+raise Exception(
     """
-
-    po_files = list(pathlib.Path(root).glob('**/*.po'))
-
-    for popath in po_files:
-        mopath = popath.with_suffix(".mo")
-        po = polib.pofile(popath)
-        po.save_as_mofile(mopath)
-    
-    if len(po_files) < 1:
-        if root.exists():
-            raise FileNotFoundError(
-                f"Found no po files to compile to mo. Was this the right folder to search? \n"
-                f"  {root}"
-            )
-        else:
-            # if app folder doesn't exist, there's nothing to translate
-            print("No .po files to compile as this is a library-only installation.")
-    else:
-        print(f"compiled {len(po_files)} .po files to .mo in {root.absolute()}")
-    return len(po_files)
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    n_files = compilePoFiles(root)
\ No newline at end of file
+    The psychopy_app.compile_po has been removed.
+    Please use psychopy_translations.generate instead.
+    https://github.com/psychopy/psychopy-translations/blob/dev/psychopy_translations/generate.py
+    """)
diff --git a/setupApp.py b/setupApp.py
index 81974f1..1bff096 100644
--- a/setupApp.py
+++ b/setupApp.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 import py2app  # noqa: needed to build app bundle, even though not explicitly used here
 from ctypes import util
 import importlib
-from building import compile_po
 from building import semanticVersion
 from pathlib import Path
 import psychopy
@@ -23,7 +22,6 @@ def glob_to_list(path, glob_pattern='*'):
     """Convert a glob pattern to a list of files."""
     return [str(p.absolute()) for p in Path(path).glob(glob_pattern)]
 
-compile_po.compilePoFiles()
 # semanticVersion.updateVersionFile()
 # semanticVersion.updateGitShaFile()