diff --git a/core/database.php b/core/database.php
index 10441027..3b286021 100644
--- a/core/database.php
+++ b/core/database.php
@@ -220,21 +220,6 @@ class Database
         return $row ? $row : null;
     }
 
-
-    /**
-     * Execute an SQL query and return a boolean based on whether it returns a result
-     */
-    public function exists(string $query, array $args=[], bool $scoreql = false): bool
-    {
-        if ($scoreql===true) {
-            $query = $this->scoreql_to_sql($query);
-        }
-        $_start = microtime(true);
-        $result = $this->execute($query, $args);
-        $this->count_time("exists", $_start, $query, $args);
-        return $result->rowCount()>0;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Execute an SQL query and return the first column of each row.
      */
diff --git a/ext/favorites/main.php b/ext/favorites/main.php
index 0c54382b..f4791dab 100644
--- a/ext/favorites/main.php
+++ b/ext/favorites/main.php
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ class Favorites extends Extension
     {
         global $database;
         if ($do_set) {
-            if (!$database->exists("select 1 from user_favorites where image_id=:image_id and user_id=:user_id", ["image_id"=>$image_id, "user_id"=>$user_id])) {
+            if (!$database->get_row("select 1 from user_favorites where image_id=:image_id and user_id=:user_id", ["image_id"=>$image_id, "user_id"=>$user_id])) {
                 $database->Execute(
                     "INSERT INTO user_favorites(image_id, user_id, created_at) VALUES(:image_id, :user_id, NOW())",
                     ["image_id"=>$image_id, "user_id"=>$user_id]