diff --git a/core/subsurface-qt/DiveObjectHelper.cpp b/core/subsurface-qt/DiveObjectHelper.cpp
index 9a3f2386d..dc22e59a2 100644
--- a/core/subsurface-qt/DiveObjectHelper.cpp
+++ b/core/subsurface-qt/DiveObjectHelper.cpp
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include "../qthelper.h"
 #include "../helpers.h"
 
-static QString EMPTY_DIVE_STRING = QStringLiteral("--");
+static QString EMPTY_DIVE_STRING = QStringLiteral("");
 enum returnPressureSelector {START_PRESSURE, END_PRESSURE};
 
 static QString getFormattedWeight(struct dive *dive, unsigned int idx)
diff --git a/mobile-widgets/qmlmanager.cpp b/mobile-widgets/qmlmanager.cpp
index a10115981..4fa32bdd9 100644
--- a/mobile-widgets/qmlmanager.cpp
+++ b/mobile-widgets/qmlmanager.cpp
@@ -440,24 +440,6 @@ void QMLManager::commitChanges(QString diveId, QString date, QString location, Q
 			       QString airtemp, QString watertemp, QString suit, QString buddy, QString diveMaster, QString weight, QString notes,
 			       QString startpressure, QString endpressure, QString gasmix)
 {
-#define DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(_s) if ((_s) == QLatin1Literal("--")) (_s).clear()
-
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(location);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(duration);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(depth);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(airtemp);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(watertemp);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(suit);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(buddy);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(diveMaster);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(weight);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(gasmix);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(startpressure);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(endpressure);
-	DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER(notes);
-
-#undef DROP_EMPTY_PLACEHOLDER
-
 	struct dive *d = get_dive_by_uniq_id(diveId.toInt());
 	// notes comes back as rich text - let's convert this into plain text
 	QTextDocument doc;