diff --git a/.rubocop.yml b/.rubocop.yml
index c90af36..b6deb4b 100644
--- a/.rubocop.yml
+++ b/.rubocop.yml
@@ -171,9 +171,16 @@ Rails/TimeZone:
   Exclude:
     - "spec/lib/**/*"
 
+# Rails cops only for controllers
 Rails/Delegate:
   Exclude:
     - "lib/**/*"
+Rails/Blank:
+  Exclude:
+    - "lib/**/*"
+Rails/Present:
+  Exclude:
+    - "lib/**/*"
 
 Style/SingleLineMethods:
   Exclude:
@@ -192,6 +199,8 @@ Style/FrozenStringLiteralComment:
   Enabled: false
 Style/SafeNavigation:
   Enabled: false
+Style/IndentHeredoc:
+  Enabled: false
 
 # only with ruby >= 2.4
 Performance/RegexpMatch:
@@ -201,3 +210,8 @@ Performance/RegexpMatch:
 Rails/HttpPositionalArguments:
   Exclude:
     - "spec/controllers/diaspora_federation/fixtures_rails4_spec.rb"
+
+# remove with next rubocop update, see https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop/issues/4172
+Style/MixinGrouping:
+  Exclude:
+    - "spec/**/*"
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 272b8bb..3dae122 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ group :development do
   # code style
   gem "pronto",         "0.8.2"
   gem "pronto-rubocop", "0.8.0", require: false
-  gem "rubocop",        "0.47.1"
+  gem "rubocop",        "0.48.0"
 
   # automatic test runs
   gem "guard-rspec",   require: false
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index daf7b01..e2e64fe 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ GEM
       rspec-mocks (~> 3.5.0)
       rspec-support (~> 3.5.0)
     rspec-support (3.5.0)
-    rubocop (0.47.1)
+    rubocop (0.48.0)
       parser (>= 2.3.3.1, < 3.0)
       powerpack (~> 0.1)
       rainbow (>= 1.99.1, < 3.0)
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rspec-core (~> 3.5.1)
   rspec-json_expectations (~> 2.1)
   rspec-rails (~> 3.5.1)
-  rubocop (= 0.47.1)
+  rubocop (= 0.48.0)
   simplecov (= 0.13.0)
   simplecov-rcov (= 0.2.3)
   spring