diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index fcee59373..a98146806 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 ## Features
 * Admin: add option to find users under 13 (COPPA) [#4252](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/4252)
 * Show the user if a contact is sharing with them when viewing their profile page [#2948](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/issues/2948)
+* Made Unicorn timeout configurable and increased the default to 90 seconds
 
 # 0.1.1.0
 
diff --git a/config/defaults.yml b/config/defaults.yml
index d5fa2bf7e..e9f56a4da 100644
--- a/config/defaults.yml
+++ b/config/defaults.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ defaults:
     stdout_log:
     database: 'mysql'
     unicorn_worker: 2
+    unicorn_timeout: 90
     embed_sidekiq_worker: false
     sidekiq_workers: 1
   privacy:
diff --git a/config/diaspora.yml.example b/config/diaspora.yml.example
index 5dc0b94f0..1b681ad0e 100644
--- a/config/diaspora.yml.example
+++ b/config/diaspora.yml.example
@@ -152,6 +152,12 @@ configuration: ## Section
     ## Number of Unicorn worker processes, increase this if
     ## you have many users
     #unicorn_worker: 2
+
+    ## Number of seconds before a request is aborted, increase if
+    ## you get empty responses, or large image uploads fail.
+    ## Decrease if you're under heavy load and don't care for some
+    ## requests to fail.
+    #unicorn_timeout: 90
     
     ## Embed a Sidekiq worker inside the unicorn process, useful for
     ## minimal Heroku setups
diff --git a/config/unicorn.rb b/config/unicorn.rb
index 2e5528978..e02a9dcc0 100644
--- a/config/unicorn.rb
+++ b/config/unicorn.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ worker_processes AppConfig.server.unicorn_worker.to_i
 preload_app true
 
 # How long to wait before killing an unresponsive worker
-timeout 30
+timeout AppConfig.server.unicorn_timeout.to_i
 
 @sidekiq_pid = nil