diff --git a/mod/msearch.php b/mod/msearch.php
index b02a036ae..14dfd1ef7 100644
--- a/mod/msearch.php
+++ b/mod/msearch.php
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function msearch_post(App $a)
 		$perpage
 	);
 
-	while($search_result = DBA::fetch($search_stmt)) {
+	while ($search_result = DBA::fetch($search_stmt)) {
 		$results[] = [
 			'name'  => $search_result['name'],
 			'url'   => DI::baseUrl() . '/profile/' . $search_result['nickname'],
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ function msearch_post(App $a)
 		];
 	}
 
+	DBA::close($search_stmt);
+
 	$output = ['total' => $total, 'items_page' => $perpage, 'page' => $page, 'results' => $results];
 
 	echo json_encode($output);
diff --git a/src/Core/Worker.php b/src/Core/Worker.php
index 6fb8bd40f..24febf3bc 100644
--- a/src/Core/Worker.php
+++ b/src/Core/Worker.php
@@ -614,6 +614,7 @@ class Worker
 				}
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($entries);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Database/Database.php b/src/Database/Database.php
index f86f27996..db906bd01 100644
--- a/src/Database/Database.php
+++ b/src/Database/Database.php
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ class Database
 	/** @var PDO|mysqli */
 	protected $connection;
 	protected $driver;
+	private $emulate_prepares = false;
 	private $error          = false;
 	private $errorno        = 0;
 	private $affected_rows  = 0;
@@ -130,6 +131,8 @@ class Database
 			return false;
 		}
 
+		$this->emulate_prepares = (bool)$this->configCache->get('database', 'emulate_prepares');
+
 		if (class_exists('\PDO') && in_array('mysql', PDO::getAvailableDrivers())) {
 			$this->driver = 'pdo';
 			$connect      = "mysql:host=" . $server . ";dbname=" . $db;
@@ -428,8 +431,10 @@ class Database
 	{
 		$offset = 0;
 		foreach ($args AS $param => $value) {
-			if (is_int($args[$param]) || is_float($args[$param])) {
+			if (is_int($args[$param]) || is_float($args[$param]) || is_bool($args[$param])) {
 				$replace = intval($args[$param]);
+			} elseif (is_null($args[$param])) {
+				$replace = 'NULL';
 			} else {
 				$replace = "'" . $this->escape($args[$param]) . "'";
 			}
@@ -515,8 +520,8 @@ class Database
 		switch ($this->driver) {
 			case 'pdo':
 				// If there are no arguments we use "query"
-				if (count($args) == 0) {
-					if (!$retval = $this->connection->query($sql)) {
+				if ($this->emulate_prepares || count($args) == 0) {
+					if (!$retval = $this->connection->query($this->replaceParameters($sql, $args))) {
 						$errorInfo     = $this->connection->errorInfo();
 						$this->error   = $errorInfo[2];
 						$this->errorno = $errorInfo[1];
@@ -562,7 +567,7 @@ class Database
 				$can_be_prepared = in_array($command, ['select', 'update', 'insert', 'delete']);
 
 				// The fallback routine is called as well when there are no arguments
-				if (!$can_be_prepared || (count($args) == 0)) {
+				if ($this->emulate_prepares || !$can_be_prepared || (count($args) == 0)) {
 					$retval = $this->connection->query($this->replaceParameters($sql, $args));
 					if ($this->connection->errno) {
 						$this->error   = $this->connection->error;
diff --git a/src/Model/Contact.php b/src/Model/Contact.php
index 2435b54f9..becc80c0c 100644
--- a/src/Model/Contact.php
+++ b/src/Model/Contact.php
@@ -2057,6 +2057,7 @@ class Contact
 
 			Worker::add(PRIORITY_HIGH, 'MergeContact', $first, $duplicate['id'], $uid);
 		}
+		DBA::close($duplicates);
 		Logger::info('Duplicates handled', ['uid' => $uid, 'nurl' => $nurl]);
 		return true;
 	}
@@ -2732,6 +2733,7 @@ class Contact
 				);
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($contacts);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Model/GContact.php b/src/Model/GContact.php
index 553976296..becfd61b0 100644
--- a/src/Model/GContact.php
+++ b/src/Model/GContact.php
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ class GContact
 
 			$gcontacts[] = Contact::getDetailsByURL($result['nurl'], local_user());
 		}
+		DBA::close($results);
 		return $gcontacts;
 	}
 
@@ -563,6 +564,7 @@ class GContact
 				PortableContact::loadWorker(0, 0, 0, $base);
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($contacts);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Model/Process.php b/src/Model/Process.php
index 265292968..18b5f785a 100644
--- a/src/Model/Process.php
+++ b/src/Model/Process.php
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class Process
 				self::deleteByPid($process['pid']);
 			}
 		}
-
+		DBA::close($processes);
 		DBA::commit();
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Model/Search.php b/src/Model/Search.php
index 9e00bbe30..ca8960ef3 100644
--- a/src/Model/Search.php
+++ b/src/Model/Search.php
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class Search
 		while ($term = DBA::fetch($termsStmt)) {
 			$tags[] = trim($term['term'], '#');
 		}
-
+		DBA::close($termsStmt);
 		return $tags;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Model/User.php b/src/Model/User.php
index be71bcf64..89574e760 100644
--- a/src/Model/User.php
+++ b/src/Model/User.php
@@ -1298,6 +1298,7 @@ class User
 				$statistics['active_users_monthly']++;
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($userStmt);
 
 		return $statistics;
 	}
diff --git a/src/Model/UserItem.php b/src/Model/UserItem.php
index f68b5aac8..74c5ac448 100644
--- a/src/Model/UserItem.php
+++ b/src/Model/UserItem.php
@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ class UserItem
 				return true;
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($tags);
 
 		return false;
 	}
diff --git a/src/Module/Admin/DBSync.php b/src/Module/Admin/DBSync.php
index 8892c2969..dd7febcc5 100644
--- a/src/Module/Admin/DBSync.php
+++ b/src/Module/Admin/DBSync.php
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ class DBSync extends BaseAdmin
 				$failed[] = $upd;
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($configStmt);
 
 		if (!count($failed)) {
 			$o = Renderer::replaceMacros(Renderer::getMarkupTemplate('admin/dbsync/structure_check.tpl'), [
diff --git a/src/Module/Admin/Site.php b/src/Module/Admin/Site.php
index cf3fee31b..f3086856b 100644
--- a/src/Module/Admin/Site.php
+++ b/src/Module/Admin/Site.php
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ class Site extends BaseAdmin
 			while ($user = DBA::fetch($usersStmt)) {
 				Worker::add(PRIORITY_HIGH, 'Notifier', Delivery::RELOCATION, $user['uid']);
 			}
+			DBA::close($usersStmt);
 
 			info("Relocation started. Could take a while to complete.");
 
diff --git a/src/Module/Settings/Delegation.php b/src/Module/Settings/Delegation.php
index e70dee890..e590d6ea7 100644
--- a/src/Module/Settings/Delegation.php
+++ b/src/Module/Settings/Delegation.php
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ class Delegation extends BaseSettings
 		while ($contact = DBA::fetch($contacts)) {
 			$nicknames[] = $contact['nick'];
 		}
+		DBA::close($contacts);
 
 		// get user records for all potential page delegates who are not already delegates or managers
 		$potentialDelegateUsers = DBA::selectToArray('user', ['uid', 'username', 'nickname'], ['nickname' => $nicknames]);
diff --git a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php
index 620894c75..fd91dca16 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ class Transmitter
 			while ($contact = DBA::fetch($contacts)) {
 				$list[] = $contact['url'];
 			}
+			DBA::close($contacts);
 
 			if (!empty($list)) {
 				$data['next'] = DI::baseUrl() . '/followers/' . $owner['nickname'] . '?page=' . ($page + 1);
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@ class Transmitter
 			while ($contact = DBA::fetch($contacts)) {
 				$list[] = $contact['url'];
 			}
+			DBA::close($contacts);
 
 			if (!empty($list)) {
 				$data['next'] = DI::baseUrl() . '/following/' . $owner['nickname'] . '?page=' . ($page + 1);
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php b/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
index 2a7fcc466..a91c5cdf8 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ class Diaspora
 			while ($server = DBA::fetch($servers)) {
 				$serverlist[$server['url']] = $server['url'];
 			}
+			DBA::close($servers);
 
 			// All tags of the current post
 			$tags = DBA::select('tag-view', ['name'], ['uri-id' => $parent['uri-id'], 'type' => Tag::HASHTAG]);
@@ -138,6 +139,7 @@ class Diaspora
 				while ($server = DBA::fetch($tagserver)) {
 					$tagserverlist[] = $server['gserver-id'];
 				}
+				DBA::close($tagserver);
 			}
 
 			// All adresses with the given id
@@ -146,6 +148,7 @@ class Diaspora
 				while ($server = DBA::fetch($servers)) {
 					$serverlist[$server['url']] = $server['url'];
 				}
+				DBA::close($servers);
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -1718,6 +1721,7 @@ class Diaspora
 		while ($contact = DBA::fetch($contacts)) {
 			Contact::remove($contact["id"]);
 		}
+		DBA::close($contacts);
 
 		DBA::delete('gcontact', ['addr' => $author]);
 
diff --git a/src/Worker/CronJobs.php b/src/Worker/CronJobs.php
index 2a6c97e84..319a369d1 100644
--- a/src/Worker/CronJobs.php
+++ b/src/Worker/CronJobs.php
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ class CronJobs
 		while ($user = DBA::fetch($users)) {
 			User::remove($user['uid']);
 		}
+		DBA::close($users);
 
 		// delete user records for recently removed accounts
 		$users = DBA::select('user', ['uid'], ["`account_removed` AND `account_expires_on` < UTC_TIMESTAMP() "]);
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ class CronJobs
 
 			DBA::delete('user', ['uid' => $user['uid']]);
 		}
+		DBA::close($users);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Worker/UpdateGContacts.php b/src/Worker/UpdateGContacts.php
index 80c0ef524..9d9519241 100644
--- a/src/Worker/UpdateGContacts.php
+++ b/src/Worker/UpdateGContacts.php
@@ -96,5 +96,6 @@ class UpdateGContacts
 				return;
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($contacts);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Worker/UpdateGServers.php b/src/Worker/UpdateGServers.php
index 2200d02e9..5a4513846 100644
--- a/src/Worker/UpdateGServers.php
+++ b/src/Worker/UpdateGServers.php
@@ -52,5 +52,6 @@ class UpdateGServers
 				return;
 			}
 		}
+		DBA::close($gservers);
 	}
 }