diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 83775cfc4..f6c9fe534 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ## Refactor
 * Background actual mailing when sending invitations [#4069](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/issues/4069)
+* Set the current user on the client side through gon [#4028](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/issues/4028)
 
 ## Bug fixes
 * Don't focus comment form on 'show n more comments' [#4265](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/issues/4265)
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/app.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/app.js
index c268d8e1b..240c44f3e 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/app.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/app.js
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ var app = {
   initialize: function() {
     app.router = new app.Router();
 
-    var currentUser = false;
-    if (window.preloads != undefined) {
-      currentUser = app.user(window.preloads.user)
+    if (window.gon == undefined) {
+      window.gon = {preloads:{}};
     }
-    app.currentUser = currentUser || new app.models.User();
+
+    app.currentUser = app.user(window.gon.user) || new app.models.User();
 
     if(app.currentUser.authenticated()){
       app.header = new app.views.Header();
@@ -63,19 +63,19 @@ var app = {
   },
 
   hasPreload : function(prop) {
-    return !!(window.preloads && window.preloads[prop]) //returning boolean variable so that parsePreloads, which cleans up properly is used instead
+    return !!(window.gon.preloads && window.gon.preloads[prop]) //returning boolean variable so that parsePreloads, which cleans up properly is used instead
   },
 
   setPreload : function(prop, val) {
-    window.preloads = window.preloads || {}
-    window.preloads[prop] = val
+    window.gon.preloads = window.gon.preloads || {}
+    window.gon.preloads[prop] = val
   },
 
   parsePreload : function(prop){
       if(!app.hasPreload(prop)) { return }
 
-      var preload = window.preloads[prop]
-      delete window.preloads[prop] //prevent dirty state across navigates
+      var preload = window.gon.preloads[prop]
+      delete window.gon.preloads[prop] //prevent dirty state across navigates
 
       return(preload)
   },
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/router.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/router.js
index 4f143aa9d..0d29cd9c8 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/router.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/router.js
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ app.Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
     post.fetch({url : window.location})
 
     function setPreloadAttributesAndNavigate(){
-      window.preloads.post = post.attributes
+      window.gon.preloads.post = post.attributes
       app.router.navigate(post.url(), {trigger:true, replace: true})
     }
   },
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ app.Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
     $("#tags_list").replaceWith(followedTagsView.render().el);
     followedTagsView.setupAutoSuggest();
 
-    app.tagFollowings.reset(preloads.tagFollowings);
+    app.tagFollowings.reset(gon.preloads.tagFollowings);
 
     if(name) {
       var followedTagsAction = new app.views.TagFollowingAction(
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/mobile.js b/app/assets/javascripts/mobile.js
index 46b2d7168..83f787d95 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/mobile.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/mobile.js
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ $(document).ready(function(){
 
 function createUploader(){
 
-   var aspectIds = gon.aspect_ids;
+   var aspectIds = gon.preloads.aspect_ids;
 
    var uploader = new qq.FileUploaderBasic({
        element: document.getElementById('file-upload-publisher'),
diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index cc5ceadbb..780852ab4 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   before_filter :set_diaspora_header
   before_filter :set_grammatical_gender
   before_filter :mobile_switch
-  before_filter :set_current_user_in_javascript
+  before_filter :gon_set_current_user
+  before_filter :gon_set_preloads
 
   inflection_method :grammatical_gender => :gender
 
@@ -138,11 +139,16 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
     current_user.getting_started? ? getting_started_path : stream_path
   end
 
-  def set_current_user_in_javascript
+  def gon_set_current_user
     return unless user_signed_in?
     a_ids = session[:a_ids] || []
     user = UserPresenter.new(current_user, a_ids)
     gon.push({:user => user})
   end
 
+  def gon_set_preloads
+    return unless gon.preloads.nil?
+    gon.preloads = {}
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/app/controllers/streams_controller.rb b/app/controllers/streams_controller.rb
index 7c4484f51..6ce788a17 100644
--- a/app/controllers/streams_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/streams_controller.rb
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ class StreamsController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def followed_tags
-    gon.tagFollowings = tags
+    gon.preloads[:tagFollowings] = tags
     stream_responder(Stream::FollowedTag)
   end
 
diff --git a/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb b/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb
index 2729268ef..86b095975 100644
--- a/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class TagsController < ApplicationController
     redirect_to(:action => :show, :name => downcased_tag_name) && return if tag_has_capitals?
 
     if user_signed_in?
-      gon.tagFollowings = tags
+      gon.preloads[:tagFollowings] = tags
     end
     @stream = Stream::Tag.new(current_user, params[:name], :max_time => max_time, :page => params[:page])
     respond_with do |format|
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml b/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
index f7ecb1084..fb788d0a1 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
       %link{:rel => 'alternate', :type => "application/json+oembed", :href => "#{oembed_url(:url => post_url(@post))}"}
       = og_page_specific_tags(@post)
 
-    = include_gon(:camel_case => true, :namespace => :preloads)
+    = include_gon(:camel_case => true)
 
   %body
     = flash_messages
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/app/views/post/small_frame_view_spec.js b/spec/javascripts/app/views/post/small_frame_view_spec.js
index d6b83e36d..c4e022cb1 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/app/views/post/small_frame_view_spec.js
+++ b/spec/javascripts/app/views/post/small_frame_view_spec.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ describe("app.views.Post.SmallFrame", function(){
     beforeEach(function(){
       app.page = { editMode : false }
       app.router = new app.Router()
-      window.preloads = {}
+      window.gon.preloads = {}
       spyOn(app.router, "navigate")
     })