diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 20207083..70309431 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ packages = find:
 install_requires =
     Pillow>=8.2.0
     coloredlogs>=14.0  # strictly optional
+    deprecation>=2.1.0
     img2pdf>=0.3.0  # pure Python
     packaging>=20
     pdfminer.six!=20200720,>=20191110
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py b/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py
index 481b2f1b..033f5553 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import warnings
 from collections import namedtuple
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 from contextlib import suppress
-from functools import wraps
 from io import StringIO
 from math import isclose, isfinite
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -275,20 +274,3 @@ def pikepdf_enable_mmap():
     # Fix is not in pybind11 2.6.0
     # log.debug("pikepdf mmap disabled")
     return
-
-
-def deprecated(func):
-    """Warn that function is deprecated."""
-
-    @wraps(func)
-    def new_func(*args, **kwargs):
-        warnings.simplefilter('always', DeprecationWarning)  # turn off filter
-        warnings.warn(
-            f"Call to deprecated function {func.__name__}.",
-            category=DeprecationWarning,
-            stacklevel=2,
-        )
-        warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)  # reset filter
-        return func(*args, **kwargs)
-
-    return new_func
diff --git a/tests/test_helpers.py b/tests/test_helpers.py
index bd43b5b5..e1992b32 100644
--- a/tests/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/test_helpers.py
@@ -54,15 +54,6 @@ def test_no_cpu_count(monkeypatch):
     assert invoked, "Patched function called during test"
 
 
-def test_deprecated():
-    @helpers.deprecated
-    def old_function():
-        return 42
-
-    with pytest.deprecated_call():
-        assert old_function() == 42
-
-
 skipif_docker = pytest.mark.skipif(running_in_docker(), reason="fails on Docker")