diff --git a/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.js b/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.js
index aded8728cc6..e23fc92320e 100644
--- a/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.js
+++ b/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.js
@@ -15,11 +15,6 @@ export class ChatWindow extends Component {
     setup() {
         super.setup();
         useUpdate({ func: () => this._update() });
-        /**
-         * Reference of the header of the chat window.
-         * Useful to prevent click on header from wrongly focusing the window.
-         */
-        this._chatWindowHeaderRef = useRef('header');
         /**
          * Reference of the autocomplete input (new_message chat window only).
          * Useful when focusing this chat window, which consists of focusing
diff --git a/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.xml b/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.xml
index 4b79e2e83e6..fd17eb668f6 100644
--- a/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.xml
+++ b/addons/mail/static/src/components/chat_window/chat_window.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
                     hasCloseAsBackButton="props.hasCloseAsBackButton"
                     isExpandable="props.isExpandable"
                     onClicked="_onClickedHeader"
-                    t-ref="header"
                 />
                 <t t-if="chatWindow.thread and chatWindow.thread.hasMemberListFeature and chatWindow.isMemberListOpened">
                     <ChannelMemberList channelLocalId="chatWindow.thread.localId" className="'bg-white'"/>