diff --git a/INSTALL.txt b/INSTALL.txt
index 7726bdb0d7..71671af3f1 100644
--- a/INSTALL.txt
+++ b/INSTALL.txt
@@ -136,8 +136,37 @@ $a->config['system']['addon'] = 'js_upload,poormancron';
 
 and save your changes.
 
+9. (Optional) Reverse-proxying and HTTPS
+
+Friendica looks for some well-known HTTP headers indicating a reverse-proxy
+terminating an HTTPS connection. While the standard from RFC 7239 specifies
+the use of the `Forwaded` header.
+
+    Forwarded: for=192.0.2.1; proto=https; by=192.0.2.2
+
+Friendica also supports a number on non-standard headers in common use.
+
+
+    X-Forwarded-Proto: https
+
+    Front-End-Https: on
+
+    X-Forwarded-Ssl: on
+
+It is however preferable to use the standard approach if configuring a new server.
+In Nginx, this can be done as follows (assuming Friendica runs on port 8080).
+
+    location / {
+            if ( $scheme != https ) {		# Force Redirect to HTTPS
+                    return 302 https://$host$uri;
+            }
+            proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
+            proxy_redirect off;
+            proxy_set_header Host $host;
+            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+            proxy_set_header Forwarded "for=$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proto=$scheme";
+    }
 
- 
 #####################################################################
 
 		If things don't work...
diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index dd70040c64..6a2acaa35e 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -582,10 +582,15 @@ class App {
 
 
 		$this->scheme = 'http';
-		if(x($_SERVER,'HTTPS') && $_SERVER['HTTPS'])
-			$this->scheme = 'https';
-		elseif(x($_SERVER,'SERVER_PORT') && (intval($_SERVER['SERVER_PORT']) == 443))
+		if((x($_SERVER,'HTTPS') && $_SERVER['HTTPS']) ||
+		   (x($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']) && preg_match("/proto=https/", $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED'])) ||
+		   (x($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == 'https') ||
+		   (x($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SSL']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SSL'] == 'on') ||
+		   (x($_SERVER['FRONT_END_HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['FRONT_END_HTTPS'] == 'on') ||
+		   (x($_SERVER,'SERVER_PORT') && (intval($_SERVER['SERVER_PORT']) == 443)) // XXX: reasonable assumption, but isn't this hardcoding too much?
+		   ) {
 			$this->scheme = 'https';
+		   }
 
 		if(x($_SERVER,'SERVER_NAME')) {
 			$this->hostname = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];