diff --git a/apps/app_voicemail.c b/apps/app_voicemail.c
index fe1ce349d6484e4269d4dc4c8914b8e54370d529..7343bb2e56e03f859c5dc9c00bc7698653619f16 100644
--- a/apps/app_voicemail.c
+++ b/apps/app_voicemail.c
@@ -3745,54 +3745,6 @@ static void check_quota(struct vm_state *vms, char *mailbox) {
 
 #endif /* IMAP_STORAGE */
 
-static void cleanup_orphaned_lock_files(const char *base)
-{
-	DIR *dir;
-	struct dirent *e;
-
-	dir = opendir(base);
-	if (!dir) {
-		/* Don't complain about this too loudly */
-		ast_debug(2, "Unable to open `%s': %s\n", base, strerror(errno));
-		return;
-	}
-
-	while ((e = readdir(dir))) {
-		char *fullpath;
-		struct stat s;
-
-		/* Always skip . and .. */
-		if (!strcmp(e->d_name, ".") || !strcmp(e->d_name, "..")) {
-			continue;
-		}
-
-		/* Build up the full path (using dynamic memory because PATH_MAX is crap) */
-		if (ast_asprintf(&fullpath, "%s/%s", base, e->d_name) == -1) {
-			break;
-		}
-
-		if (lstat(fullpath, &s) < 0) {
-			ast_free(fullpath);
-			continue;
-		}
-
-		/* This is exposing an implementation detail of ast_lock_path, but it makes
-		 * our life a bit easier */
-		if (!strcmp(e->d_name, ".lock") && S_ISLNK(s.st_mode)) {
-			if (!ast_unlock_path(base)) {
-				ast_log(AST_LOG_NOTICE, "Cleaned up orphaned lock file: %s/.lock\n", base);
-			}
-		} else if (S_ISDIR(s.st_mode)) {
-			/* If it is a directory, let's dive down */
-			cleanup_orphaned_lock_files(fullpath);
-		}
-
-		ast_free(fullpath);
-	}
-
-	closedir(dir);
-}
-
 /*! \brief Lock file path
  * only return failure if ast_lock_path returns 'timeout',
  * not if the path does not exist or any other reason
@@ -15247,9 +15199,6 @@ static int load_module(void)
 	/* compute the location of the voicemail spool directory */
 	snprintf(VM_SPOOL_DIR, sizeof(VM_SPOOL_DIR), "%s/voicemail/", ast_config_AST_SPOOL_DIR);
 
-	/* Now that we have a spool directory, clean up old lock files */
-	cleanup_orphaned_lock_files(VM_SPOOL_DIR);
-
 	if (!(mwi_subscription_tps = ast_taskprocessor_get("app_voicemail", 0))) {
 		ast_log(AST_LOG_WARNING, "failed to reference mwi subscription taskprocessor.  MWI will not work\n");
 	}
diff --git a/doc/CHANGES-staging/voicemail_lock_cleanup_revert.txt b/doc/CHANGES-staging/voicemail_lock_cleanup_revert.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..500c9a4d7a76481a64ae731c5e32abaacbc776e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/CHANGES-staging/voicemail_lock_cleanup_revert.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+Subject: app_voicemail
+
+A feature was added in Asterisk 13.27.0 and 16.4.0 that removed lock files from
+the Asterisk voicemail directory on startup. Some users that store their
+voicemails on network storage devices experienced slow startup times due to the
+relative expense of traversing the voicemail directory structure looking for
+orphaned lock files. This feature has now been removed.
+
+Users who require the lock files to be removed at startup should modify their
+startup scripts to do so before starting the asterisk process.