diff --git a/migrations/20250618184304-volumes-truncate-hostPath.js b/migrations/20250618184304-volumes-truncate-hostPath.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db040a7e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/20250618184304-volumes-truncate-hostPath.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+'use strict';
+
+exports.up = async function (db) {
+    // InnoDB has a strict maximum index key length. utf8mb8 (next migration) means 1024*4=4096. max in our db is 3072
+    await db.runSql('UPDATE volumes SET hostPath=LEFT(hostPath, 768)');
+    await db.runSql('ALTER TABLE volumes MODIFY hostPath VARCHAR(768) NOT NULL UNIQUE');
+};
+
+exports.down = async function (db) {
+    await db.runSql('ALTER TABLE tasks DROP COLUMN pending');
+};
diff --git a/migrations/20250618200400-fix-charset-collate.js b/migrations/20250618200400-fix-charset-collate.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c92e5beda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/20250618200400-fix-charset-collate.js
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+'use strict';
+
+exports.up = async function (db) {
+    const tableNames = [
+        'userGroups', 'users', 'domains', 'tasks', 'volumes', 'apps', 'backups', 'mail',
+
+        'appAddonConfigs', 'appEnvVars', 'appMounts', 'appPasswords', 'appPortBindings', 'applinks', 'archives',
+        'blobs', 'dockerRegistries', 'eventlog', 'groupMembers', 'locations', 'locks', 'mailboxes',
+        'migrations', 'notifications', 'oidcClients', 'settings', 'tokens'
+    ];
+
+    await db.runSql('SET foreign_key_checks = 0');
+
+    // this should already be the default
+    console.log('Changing database charset');
+    await db.runSql('ALTER DATABASE box CHARACTER SET = utf8mb4 COLLATE = utf8mb4_bin');
+
+    for (const tableName of tableNames) {
+        // this update all applicable columns (VARCHAR, TEXT, etc.) to use the new character set and collation and not just the table!
+        console.log(`Changing charset of ${tableName}`);
+        await db.runSql(`ALTER TABLE ${tableName} CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_bin`);
+    }
+
+    await db.runSql('SET foreign_key_checks = 1');
+};
+
+exports.down = async function (db) {
+    // no going back!
+};
diff --git a/migrations/schema.sql b/migrations/schema.sql
index b2d3e2528..f5da902b7 100644
--- a/migrations/schema.sql
+++ b/migrations/schema.sql
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #### This file is not used by any code and is here to document the latest schema
 
 #### General ideas
-#### Default char set is utf8 and DEFAULT COLLATE is utf8_bin. Collate affects comparisons in WHERE and ORDER
+#### Default char set is utf8mb4 and DEFAULT COLLATE is utf8mb4_bin. Collate affects comparisons in WHERE and ORDER
 #### Strict mode is enabled
 #### VARCHAR - stored as part of table row (use for strings)
 #### TEXT - stored offline from table row (use for strings)
@@ -193,10 +193,7 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS domains(
 
     fallbackCertificateJson MEDIUMTEXT,
 
-    PRIMARY KEY (domain))
-
-    /* the default db collation is utf8mb4_unicode_ci but for the app table domain constraint we have to use the old one */
-    CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;
+    PRIMARY KEY (domain));
 
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS mail(
     domain VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
@@ -211,9 +208,7 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS mail(
     dkimSelector VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL DEFAULT "cloudron",
 
     FOREIGN KEY(domain) REFERENCES domains(domain),
-    PRIMARY KEY(domain))
-
-    CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;
+    PRIMARY KEY(domain));
 
 /* NOTE: this table contains only real mailboxes. And has unique constraint to handle
    conflict with aliases and mailbox names