diff --git a/doc/Install.md b/doc/Install.md
index bf9dffb357..dc390fbc8a 100644
--- a/doc/Install.md
+++ b/doc/Install.md
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ Due to the large variety of operating systems and PHP platforms in existence we
 ### Requirements
 
 * Apache with mod-rewrite enabled and "Options All" so you can use a local `.htaccess` file
-* PHP 7.3+ (PHP8 is not fully supported yet)
+* PHP 7.3+
   * PHP *command line* access with register_argc_argv set to true in the php.ini file
-  * Curl, GD, GMP, PDO, mbstrings, MySQLi, hash, xml, zip and OpenSSL extensions
+  * Curl, GD, GMP, PDO, mbstrings, MySQLi, hash, xml, zip, IntlChar and OpenSSL extensions
   * The POSIX module of PHP needs to be activated (e.g. [RHEL, CentOS](http://www.bigsoft.co.uk/blog/index.php/2014/12/08/posix-php-commands-not-working-under-centos-7) have disabled it)
   * Some form of email server or email gateway such that PHP mail() works.
     If you cannot set up your own email server, you can use the [phpmailer](https://github.com/friendica/friendica-addons/tree/develop/phpmailer) addon and use a remote SMTP server.
diff --git a/src/Core/Installer.php b/src/Core/Installer.php
index 583ad5fe28..68f40c01a1 100644
--- a/src/Core/Installer.php
+++ b/src/Core/Installer.php
@@ -384,12 +384,10 @@ class Installer
 
 		$help = '';
 		$status = true;
-		if (function_exists('apache_get_modules')) {
-			if (!in_array('mod_rewrite', apache_get_modules())) {
-				$help = DI::l10n()->t('Error: Apache webserver mod-rewrite module is required but not installed.');
-				$status = false;
-				$returnVal = false;
-			}
+		if (function_exists('apache_get_modules') && !in_array('mod_rewrite', apache_get_modules())) {
+			$help = DI::l10n()->t('Error: Apache webserver mod-rewrite module is required but not installed.');
+			$status = false;
+			$returnVal = false;
 		}
 		$this->addCheck(DI::l10n()->t('Apache mod_rewrite module'), $status, true, $help);
 
@@ -399,15 +397,22 @@ class Installer
 			$status = false;
 			$help = DI::l10n()->t('Error: PDO or MySQLi PHP module required but not installed.');
 			$returnVal = false;
-		} else {
-			if (!function_exists('mysqli_connect') && class_exists('pdo') && !in_array('mysql', \PDO::getAvailableDrivers())) {
-				$status = false;
-				$help = DI::l10n()->t('Error: The MySQL driver for PDO is not installed.');
-				$returnVal = false;
-			}
+		} elseif (!function_exists('mysqli_connect') && class_exists('pdo') && !in_array('mysql', \PDO::getAvailableDrivers())) {
+			$status = false;
+			$help = DI::l10n()->t('Error: The MySQL driver for PDO is not installed.');
+			$returnVal = false;
 		}
 		$this->addCheck(DI::l10n()->t('PDO or MySQLi PHP module'), $status, true, $help);
 
+		$help   = '';
+		$status = true;
+		if (!class_exists('IntlChar')) {
+			$status    = false;
+			$help      = DI::l10n()->t('Error: The IntlChar module is not installed.');
+			$returnVal = false;
+		}
+		$this->addCheck(DI::l10n()->t('IntlChar PHP module'), $status, true, $help);
+
 		// check for XML DOM Documents being able to be generated
 		$help = '';
 		$status = true;
diff --git a/src/Model/Item.php b/src/Model/Item.php
index 55884a802e..ad93b949d9 100644
--- a/src/Model/Item.php
+++ b/src/Model/Item.php
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ use Friendica\Util\Proxy;
 use Friendica\Util\Strings;
 use Friendica\Util\Temporal;
 use GuzzleHttp\Psr7\Uri;
-use IntlChar;
 use LanguageDetection\Language;
 
 class Item
@@ -2064,6 +2063,10 @@ class Item
 	 */
 	private static function splitByBlocks(string $body): array
 	{
+		if (class_exists('IntlChar')) {
+			return [$body];
+		}
+
 		$blocks         = [];
 		$previous_block = 0;
 
@@ -2072,12 +2075,12 @@ class Item
 			$previous  = ($i > 0) ? mb_substr($body, $i - 1, 1) : '';
 			$next      = ($i < mb_strlen($body)) ? mb_substr($body, $i + 1, 1) : '';
 
-			if (!IntlChar::isalpha($character)) {
-				if (($previous != '') && (IntlChar::isalpha($previous))) {
+			if (!\IntlChar::isalpha($character)) {
+				if (($previous != '') && (\IntlChar::isalpha($previous))) {
 					$previous_block = self::getBlockCode($previous);
 				}
 
-				$block = (($next != '') && IntlChar::isalpha($next)) ? self::getBlockCode($next) : $previous_block;
+				$block = (($next != '') && \IntlChar::isalpha($next)) ? self::getBlockCode($next) : $previous_block;
 				$blocks[$block] = ($blocks[$block] ?? '') . $character;
 			} else {
 				$block = self::getBlockCode($character);
@@ -2103,7 +2106,7 @@ class Item
 	 */
 	private static function getBlockCode(string $character): int
 	{
-		if (!IntlChar::isalpha($character)) {
+		if (!\IntlChar::isalpha($character)) {
 			return 0;
 		}
 		return self::isLatin($character) ? 1 : 2;
@@ -2117,11 +2120,11 @@ class Item
 	 */
 	private static function isLatin(string $character): bool
 	{
-		return in_array(IntlChar::getBlockCode($character), [
-			IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_BASIC_LATIN, IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_1_SUPPLEMENT,
-			IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_A, IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_B,
-			IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_C, IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_D,
-			IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_E, IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_ADDITIONAL
+		return in_array(\IntlChar::getBlockCode($character), [
+			\IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_BASIC_LATIN, \IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_1_SUPPLEMENT,
+			\IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_A, \IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_B,
+			\IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_C, \IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_D,
+			\IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_E, \IntlChar::BLOCK_CODE_LATIN_EXTENDED_ADDITIONAL
 		]);
 	}