diff --git a/lib/Address.php b/lib/Address.php
index cfa96169a11f4b5df8afcfc8d5237f8e4a86e625..119659b278ff3b6f576ab15c67541ebe04460a84 100644
--- a/lib/Address.php
+++ b/lib/Address.php
@@ -79,6 +79,12 @@ class Address implements JsonSerializable {
 			return null;
 		}
 		// Lets make sure the e-mail is valid UTF-8 at all times
+		// Try a soft conversion first (some installations, eg: Alpine linux,
+		// have issues with the '//IGNORE' option)
+		$utf8 = iconv('UTF-8', 'UTF-8', $email);
+		if ($utf8 !== false) {
+			return $utf8;
+		}
 		$utf8 = iconv("UTF-8", "UTF-8//IGNORE", $email);
 		if ($utf8 === false) {
 			throw new \Exception("Email address <$email> could not be converted via iconv");
diff --git a/lib/Model/IMAPMessage.php b/lib/Model/IMAPMessage.php
index ec97180d688ff5324f33c1878688a9343b44f523..1841d1cb274f9c70e58916741d3d4ca3bfba4426 100644
--- a/lib/Model/IMAPMessage.php
+++ b/lib/Model/IMAPMessage.php
@@ -273,7 +273,14 @@ class IMAPMessage implements IMessage, JsonSerializable {
 	 * @return string
 	 */
 	public function getSubject(): string {
-		return iconv("UTF-8", "UTF-8//IGNORE", $this->getEnvelope()->subject);
+		// Try a soft conversion first (some installations, eg: Alpine linux,
+		// have issues with the '//IGNORE' option)
+		$subject = $this->getEnvelope()->subject;
+		$utf8 = iconv('UTF-8', 'UTF-8', $subject);
+		if ($utf8 !== false) {
+			return $utf8;
+		}
+		return iconv("UTF-8", "UTF-8//IGNORE", $subject);
 	}
 
 	/**