diff --git a/src/Module/BaseSearch.php b/src/Module/BaseSearch.php
index ca5bb76127..3497ad9b1d 100644
--- a/src/Module/BaseSearch.php
+++ b/src/Module/BaseSearch.php
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ use Friendica\Model;
 use Friendica\Network\HTTPException;
 use Friendica\Object\Search\ContactResult;
 use Friendica\Object\Search\ResultList;
+use Friendica\Util\Network;
 
 /**
  * Base class for search modules
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ class BaseSearch extends BaseModule
 			$header  = DI::l10n()->t('People Search - %s', $search);
 
 			if (strrpos($search, '@') > 0) {
-				$results = Search::getContactsFromProbe($search);
+				$results = Search::getContactsFromProbe(Network::convertToIdn($search));
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -78,6 +79,8 @@ class BaseSearch extends BaseModule
 			$header = DI::l10n()->t('Forum Search - %s', $search);
 		}
 
+		$search = Network::convertToIdn($search);
+
 		if (DI::mode()->isMobile()) {
 			$itemsPerPage = DI::pConfig()->get(local_user(), 'system', 'itemspage_mobile_network',
 				DI::config()->get('system', 'itemspage_network_mobile'));
diff --git a/src/Module/Search/Index.php b/src/Module/Search/Index.php
index 93c1af7aa6..4b161e39ce 100644
--- a/src/Module/Search/Index.php
+++ b/src/Module/Search/Index.php
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ use Friendica\Model\Post;
 use Friendica\Model\Tag;
 use Friendica\Module\BaseSearch;
 use Friendica\Network\HTTPException;
+use Friendica\Util\Network;
 
 class Index extends BaseSearch
 {
@@ -226,7 +227,8 @@ class Index extends BaseSearch
 	 */
 	private static function tryRedirectToProfile(string $search)
 	{
-		$isUrl = !empty(parse_url($search, PHP_URL_SCHEME));
+		$search = Network::convertToIdn($search);
+		$isUrl  = !empty(parse_url($search, PHP_URL_SCHEME));
 		$isAddr = (bool)preg_match('/^@?([a-z0-9.-_]+@[a-z0-9.-_:]+)$/i', trim($search), $matches);
 
 		if (!$isUrl && !$isAddr) {
@@ -274,6 +276,8 @@ class Index extends BaseSearch
 			return;
 		}
 
+		$search = Network::convertToIdn($search);
+
 		if (local_user()) {
 			// Post URL search
 			$item_id = Item::fetchByLink($search, local_user());
diff --git a/src/Network/Probe.php b/src/Network/Probe.php
index 82d608f2c4..70ab396fed 100644
--- a/src/Network/Probe.php
+++ b/src/Network/Probe.php
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ class Probe
 	 */
 	public static function cleanURI(string $rawUri): string
 	{
+		$rawUri = Network::convertToIdn($rawUri);
+
 		// At first remove leading and trailing junk
 		$rawUri = trim($rawUri, "@#?:/ \t\n\r\0\x0B");
 
@@ -243,49 +245,6 @@ class Probe
 		return $lrdd;
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Perform Webfinger lookup and return DFRN data
-	 *
-	 * Given an email style address, perform webfinger lookup and
-	 * return the resulting DFRN profile URL, or if no DFRN profile URL
-	 * is located, returns an OStatus subscription template (prefixed
-	 * with the string 'stat:' to identify it as on OStatus template).
-	 * If this isn't an email style address just return $webbie.
-	 * Return an empty string if email-style addresses but webfinger fails,
-	 * or if the resultant personal XRD doesn't contain a supported
-	 * subscription/friend-request attribute.
-	 *
-	 * amended 7/9/2011 to return an hcard which could save potentially loading
-	 * a lengthy content page to scrape dfrn attributes
-	 *
-	 * @param string $webbie    Address that should be probed
-	 * @param string $hcard_url Link to the hcard - is returned by reference
-	 *
-	 * @return string profile link
-	 * @throws HTTPException\InternalServerErrorException
-	 */
-	public static function webfingerDfrn(string $webbie, string &$hcard_url)
-	{
-		$profile_link = '';
-
-		$links = self::lrdd($webbie);
-		Logger::debug('Result', ['url' => $webbie, 'links' => $links]);
-		if (!empty($links) && is_array($links)) {
-			foreach ($links as $link) {
-				if ($link['@attributes']['rel'] === ActivityNamespace::DFRN) {
-					$profile_link = $link['@attributes']['href'];
-				}
-				if (($link['@attributes']['rel'] === ActivityNamespace::OSTATUSSUB) && ($profile_link == "")) {
-					$profile_link = 'stat:'.$link['@attributes']['template'];
-				}
-				if ($link['@attributes']['rel'] === 'http://microformats.org/profile/hcard') {
-					$hcard_url = $link['@attributes']['href'];
-				}
-			}
-		}
-		return $profile_link;
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * Check an URI for LRDD data
 	 *
diff --git a/src/Util/Network.php b/src/Util/Network.php
index 7e72404287..bc374c2bcc 100644
--- a/src/Util/Network.php
+++ b/src/Util/Network.php
@@ -462,6 +462,27 @@ class Network
 			(strlen($fragment) ? "#".$fragment : '');
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Convert an URI to an IDN compatible URI
+	 *
+	 * @param string $uri
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public static function convertToIdn(string $uri): string
+	{
+		$parts = parse_url($uri);
+		if (!empty($parts['scheme']) && !empty($parts['host'])) {
+			$parts['host'] = idn_to_ascii($parts['host']);
+			$uri = self::unparseURL($parts);
+		} elseif (strstr($uri, '@')) {
+			$host = idn_to_ascii(substr($uri, strpos($uri, '@') + 1));
+			$nick = substr($uri, 0, strpos($uri, '@'));
+
+			$uri = $nick . '@' . $host;
+		}
+
+		return $uri;
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * Switch the scheme of an url between http and https