diff --git a/core/gpslocation.cpp b/core/gpslocation.cpp
index 95b2bebbc..affe62c3b 100644
--- a/core/gpslocation.cpp
+++ b/core/gpslocation.cpp
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@ void GpsLocation::downloadFromServer()
 		timer.stop();
 		if (!reply->error()) {
 			QString response = reply->readAll();
-			QJsonDocument json = QJsonDocument::fromJson(response.toLocal8Bit());
+			QJsonDocument json = QJsonDocument::fromJson(response.toUtf8());
 			QJsonObject object = json.object();
 			if (object.value("download").toString() != "ok") {
 				qDebug() << "problems downloading GPS fixes";
diff --git a/desktop-widgets/divelogimportdialog.cpp b/desktop-widgets/divelogimportdialog.cpp
index 006f9b742..dc68865bb 100644
--- a/desktop-widgets/divelogimportdialog.cpp
+++ b/desktop-widgets/divelogimportdialog.cpp
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ void ColumnDropCSVView::mousePressEvent(QMouseEvent *press)
 	QDrag *drag = new QDrag(this);
 	QMimeData *mimeData = new QMimeData;
 	mimeData->setData(subsurface_mimedata, atClick.data().toByteArray());
-	mimeData->setData(subsurface_index, QString::number(atClick.column()).toLocal8Bit());
+	mimeData->setData(subsurface_index, QString::number(atClick.column()).toUtf8());
 	drag->setPixmap(pix);
 	drag->setMimeData(mimeData);
 	if (drag->exec() != Qt::IgnoreAction){
diff --git a/desktop-widgets/plugins/facebook/facebookconnectwidget.cpp b/desktop-widgets/plugins/facebook/facebookconnectwidget.cpp
index 37da1c018..13dc89d70 100644
--- a/desktop-widgets/plugins/facebook/facebookconnectwidget.cpp
+++ b/desktop-widgets/plugins/facebook/facebookconnectwidget.cpp
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ void FacebookManager::createFacebookAlbum()
 	QNetworkRequest request(albumListUrl());
 	request.setHeader(QNetworkRequest::ContentTypeHeader, "application/octet-stream");
 
-	QNetworkReply *reply = manager->post(request, params.query().toLocal8Bit());
+	QNetworkReply *reply = manager->post(request, params.query().toUtf8());
 	connect(reply, &QNetworkReply::finished, this, &FacebookManager::facebookAlbumCreated);
 }
 
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ void FacebookManager::sendDiveToAlbum(const QString& albumId)
 	QString bound="margin";
 
 	//according to rfc 1867 we need to put this string here:
-	QByteArray data(QString("--" + bound + "\r\n").toLocal8Bit());
+	QByteArray data(QString("--" + bound + "\r\n").toUtf8());
 	data.append("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"action\"\r\n\r\n");
 	data.append(graphApi + "\r\n");
 	data.append("--" + bound + "\r\n");   //according to rfc 1867
@@ -273,8 +273,8 @@ void FacebookManager::sendDiveToAlbum(const QString& albumId)
 	data.append("\r\n");
 	data.append("--" + bound + "--\r\n");  //closing boundary according to rfc 1867
 
-	request.setRawHeader(QByteArray("Content-Type"),QString("multipart/form-data; boundary=" + bound).toLocal8Bit());
-	request.setRawHeader(QByteArray("Content-Length"), QString::number(data.length()).toLocal8Bit());
+	request.setRawHeader(QByteArray("Content-Type"),QString("multipart/form-data; boundary=" + bound).toUtf8());
+	request.setRawHeader(QByteArray("Content-Length"), QString::number(data.length()).toUtf8());
 	QNetworkReply *reply = manager->post(request,data);
 
 	connect(reply, &QNetworkReply::finished, this, &FacebookManager::uploadFinished);
diff --git a/desktop-widgets/subsurfacewebservices.cpp b/desktop-widgets/subsurfacewebservices.cpp
index d9ccb190c..31babff32 100644
--- a/desktop-widgets/subsurfacewebservices.cpp
+++ b/desktop-widgets/subsurfacewebservices.cpp
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ void SubsurfaceWebServices::buttonClicked(QAbstractButton *button)
 		memset(&gps_location_table, 0, sizeof(dive_table));
 		(void)changed;
 		clear_table(&gps_location_table);
-		QByteArray url = tr("Webservice").toLocal8Bit();
+		QByteArray url = tr("Webservice").toUtf8();
 		parse_xml_buffer(url.data(), downloadedData.data(), downloadedData.length(), &gps_location_table, NULL);
 		// make sure we mark all the dive sites that were created
 		for (i = 0; i < gps_location_table.nr; i++) {
diff --git a/subsurface-desktop-main.cpp b/subsurface-desktop-main.cpp
index 765b3e943..a0b55eb5c 100644
--- a/subsurface-desktop-main.cpp
+++ b/subsurface-desktop-main.cpp
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ exit:
 void messageHandler(QtMsgType type, const QMessageLogContext &ctx, const QString &msg)
 {
 	Q_UNUSED(ctx);
-	QByteArray localMsg = msg.toLocal8Bit();
+	QByteArray localMsg = msg.toUtf8();
 	switch (type) {
 	case QtDebugMsg:
 		fprintf(stdout, "%s\n", localMsg.constData());