diff --git a/src/System/Logger.hs b/src/System/Logger.hs
index cc7ede45227e8638cd5eb686b1355b70a26b1c29..376eaacc344d9b76a281a80e5326f8e6065a165e 100644
--- a/src/System/Logger.hs
+++ b/src/System/Logger.hs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ module System.Logger
     , Logger
     , Level      (..)
     , Output     (..)
-    , DateFormat
+    , DateFormat (..)
     , iso8601UTC
 
       -- * Core API
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ module System.Logger
     ) where
 
 import Control.Applicative
-import Control.AutoUpdate
 import Control.Monad
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class
 import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
@@ -120,9 +119,8 @@ new s = liftIO $ do
     fn StdErr   = FL.newStderrLoggerSet
     fn (Path p) = flip FL.newFileLoggerSet p
 
-    mkGetDate "" = return (return id)
-    mkGetDate f  = mkAutoUpdate defaultUpdateSettings
-        { updateAction = msg . formatUnixTimeGMT (template f) <$> getUnixTime }
+    mkGetDate Nothing  = return (return id)
+    mkGetDate (Just f) = return (msg . (display f) <$> getUnixTime)
 
     mergeWith m e = Map.fromList (readNote "Invalid LOG_LEVEL_MAP" e) `Map.union` m
 
diff --git a/src/System/Logger/Settings.hs b/src/System/Logger/Settings.hs
index f8f1c1cb9dfecc2e27f777991dab4880dc3dbf27..236ab0e88a435254fa7df49dde9e4590e18ca9d8 100644
--- a/src/System/Logger/Settings.hs
+++ b/src/System/Logger/Settings.hs
@@ -38,18 +38,19 @@ import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
 import Data.ByteString.Char8 (pack)
 import Data.Map.Strict as Map
 import Data.Text (Text)
+import Data.UnixTime
 import System.Log.FastLogger (defaultBufSize)
 import System.Logger.Message
 
 data Settings = Settings
-    { _logLevel   :: !Level            -- ^ messages below this log level will be suppressed
-    , _levelMap   :: !(Map Text Level) -- ^ log level per named logger
-    , _output     :: !Output           -- ^ log sink
-    , _format     :: !DateFormat       -- ^ the timestamp format (use \"\" to disable timestamps)
-    , _delimiter  :: !ByteString       -- ^ text to intersperse between fields of a log line
-    , _netstrings :: !Bool             -- ^ use <http://cr.yp.to/proto/netstrings.txt netstrings> encoding (fixes delimiter to \",\")
-    , _bufSize    :: !Int              -- ^ how many bytes to buffer before commiting to sink
-    , _name       :: !(Maybe Text)     -- ^ logger name
+    { _logLevel   :: !Level              -- ^ messages below this log level will be suppressed
+    , _levelMap   :: !(Map Text Level)   -- ^ log level per named logger
+    , _output     :: !Output             -- ^ log sink
+    , _format     :: !(Maybe DateFormat) -- ^ the timestamp format
+    , _delimiter  :: !ByteString         -- ^ text to intersperse between fields of a log line
+    , _netstrings :: !Bool               -- ^ use <http://cr.yp.to/proto/netstrings.txt netstrings> encoding (fixes delimiter to \",\")
+    , _bufSize    :: !Int                -- ^ how many bytes to buffer before commiting to sink
+    , _name       :: !(Maybe Text)       -- ^ logger name
     , _nameMsg    :: !(Msg -> Msg)
     }
 
@@ -60,11 +61,11 @@ setOutput :: Output -> Settings -> Settings
 setOutput x s = s { _output = x }
 
 -- | The time and date format used for the timestamp part of a log line.
-format :: Settings -> DateFormat
+format :: Settings -> Maybe DateFormat
 format = _format
 
 setFormat :: DateFormat -> Settings -> Settings
-setFormat x s = s { _format = x }
+setFormat x s = s { _format = Just x }
 
 bufSize :: Settings -> Int
 bufSize = _bufSize
@@ -135,11 +136,11 @@ data Output
     deriving (Eq, Ord, Show)
 
 newtype DateFormat = DateFormat
-    { template :: ByteString
-    } deriving (Eq, Ord, Show)
+    { display :: UnixTime -> ByteString
+    }
 
 instance IsString DateFormat where
-    fromString = DateFormat . pack
+    fromString = DateFormat . formatUnixTimeGMT . pack
 
 -- | ISO 8601 date-time format.
 iso8601UTC :: DateFormat
@@ -162,5 +163,13 @@ iso8601UTC = "%Y-%0m-%0dT%0H:%0M:%0SZ"
 --   * 'name'       = Nothing
 --
 defSettings :: Settings
-defSettings = Settings Debug Map.empty StdOut iso8601UTC ", " False defaultBufSize Nothing id
-
+defSettings = Settings
+    Debug
+    Map.empty
+    StdOut
+    (Just iso8601UTC)
+    ", "
+    False
+    defaultBufSize
+    Nothing
+    id
diff --git a/tinylog.cabal b/tinylog.cabal
index c76531ea8429f48a9f1c6c2ba82a8691cd116414..33581c490f49e9e5c725be59528f9890e907db56 100644
--- a/tinylog.cabal
+++ b/tinylog.cabal
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ library
     build-depends:
           base              >= 4.6    && < 5
         , bytestring        >= 0.10.4 && < 1.0
-        , auto-update       >= 0.1    && < 0.2
         , containers        >= 0.5
         , double-conversion >= 0.2    && < 3.0
         , fast-logger       >= 2.1.4  && < 3.0