diff --git a/core/core/settings.py b/core/core/settings.py
index a6f7ce6..db23180 100644
--- a/core/core/settings.py
+++ b/core/core/settings.py
@@ -133,6 +133,9 @@ else:
             'NAME': os.getenv('DB_NAME', 'system3'),
             'USER': os.getenv('DB_USER', 'system3'),
             'PASSWORD': os.getenv('DB_PASSWORD', 'system3'),
+            'OPTIONS': {
+                'charset': 'utf8mb4'
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/mail/tests/v2/test_mails.py b/core/mail/tests/v2/test_mails.py
index bb14d00..b045b91 100644
--- a/core/mail/tests/v2/test_mails.py
+++ b/core/mail/tests/v2/test_mails.py
@@ -776,3 +776,55 @@ dGVzdGltYWdl
         self.assertEqual('test subject', IssueThread.objects.all()[0].name)
         self.assertEqual('pending_new', IssueThread.objects.all()[0].state)
         self.assertEqual(None, IssueThread.objects.all()[0].assigned_to)
+
+    def test_mail_4byte_unicode_emoji(self):
+        from aiosmtpd.smtp import Envelope
+        from asgiref.sync import async_to_sync
+        import aiosmtplib
+
+        aiosmtplib.send = make_mocked_coro()
+
+        handler = LMTPHandler()
+        server = mock.Mock()
+        session = mock.Mock()
+        envelope = Envelope()
+
+        envelope.mail_from = 'test1@test'
+        envelope.rcpt_tos = ['test2@test']
+
+        envelope.content = b'''Subject: test
+From: test1@test
+To: test2@test
+Message-ID: <1@test>
+Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
+
+thank you =?utf-8?Q?=F0=9F=98=8A?='''  # thank you 😊
+
+        result = async_to_sync(handler.handle_DATA)(server, session, envelope)
+        self.assertEqual('250 Message accepted for delivery', result)
+        self.assertEqual(2, len(Email.objects.all()))
+        self.assertEqual(1, len(IssueThread.objects.all()))
+        aiosmtplib.send.assert_called_once()
+        self.assertEqual('test', Email.objects.all()[0].subject)
+        self.assertEqual('test1@test', Email.objects.all()[0].sender)
+        self.assertEqual('test2@test', Email.objects.all()[0].recipient)
+        self.assertEqual('thank you 😊', Email.objects.all()[0].body)
+        self.assertEqual(IssueThread.objects.all()[0], Email.objects.all()[0].issue_thread)
+        self.assertEqual('<1@test>', Email.objects.all()[0].reference)
+        self.assertEqual(None, Email.objects.all()[0].in_reply_to)
+        self.assertEqual(expected_auto_reply_subject.format('test', IssueThread.objects.all()[0].short_uuid()),
+                         Email.objects.all()[1].subject)
+        self.assertEqual('test2@test', Email.objects.all()[1].sender)
+        self.assertEqual('test1@test', Email.objects.all()[1].recipient)
+        self.assertEqual(expected_auto_reply.format(IssueThread.objects.all()[0].short_uuid()),
+                         Email.objects.all()[1].body)
+        self.assertEqual(IssueThread.objects.all()[0], Email.objects.all()[1].issue_thread)
+        self.assertTrue(Email.objects.all()[1].reference.startswith("<"))
+        self.assertTrue(Email.objects.all()[1].reference.endswith("@localhost>"))
+        self.assertEqual("<1@test>", Email.objects.all()[1].in_reply_to)
+        self.assertEqual('test', IssueThread.objects.all()[0].name)
+        self.assertEqual('pending_new', IssueThread.objects.all()[0].state)
+        self.assertEqual(None, IssueThread.objects.all()[0].assigned_to)
+        states = StateChange.objects.filter(issue_thread=IssueThread.objects.all()[0])
+        self.assertEqual(1, len(states))
+        self.assertEqual('pending_new', states[0].state)