diff --git a/docs/_entities/profile.md b/docs/_entities/profile.md
index bb93118..433e9dd 100644
--- a/docs/_entities/profile.md
+++ b/docs/_entities/profile.md
@@ -4,6 +4,21 @@ title: Profile
 
 This entity contains all the profile data of a person.
 
+The profile consists of two parts. The first is the base profile with the name, 
+the avatar and the tags of the person. This part is always public and visible to
+everyone. The boolean flags (`searchable`, `public` and `nsfw`) are metadata and
+public too.
+
+The second part is the extended profile consisting of `bio`, `birthday`, `gender`
+and `location` is not public by default (and only visible to contacts the person
+shares with). The owner of the profile can decide if this information should be
+public (that's what the `public` flag is for) and then the extended profile is
+visible to non-contacts too.
+
+Because of that there is a special case where the `public`-flag is `false`, but
+the profile was received via the public route. In this case the profile should
+only contain the base profile.
+
 ## Properties
 
 | Property | Type                         | Description                      |
@@ -19,9 +34,9 @@ This entity contains all the profile data of a person.
 | `image_url`        | [URL][url] (255)             | The URL to the big avatar (300x300) of the person.                                                       |
 | `image_url_medium` | [URL][url] (255)             | The URL to the medium avatar (100x100) of the person.                                                    |
 | `image_url_small`  | [URL][url] (255)             | The URL to the small avatar (50x50) of the person.                                                       |
+| `bio`              | [Markdown][markdown] (65535) | The description of the person. This field can contain markdown.                                          |
 | `birthday`         | [Date][date]                 | The birthday of the person. The year may be `1004` or less, if the person specifies only day and month.  |
 | `gender`           | [String][string] (255)       | The gender of the person.                                                                                |
-| `bio`              | [Markdown][markdown] (65535) | The description of the person. This field can contain markdown.                                          |
 | `location`         | [String][string] (255)       | The location of the person.                                                                              |
 | `searchable`       | [Boolean][boolean]           | `false` if the person doesn't want to be searchable by name.                                             |
 | `public`           | [Boolean][boolean]           | `true` if the profile is visible to everyone.                                                            |
@@ -38,9 +53,9 @@ This entity contains all the profile data of a person.
   <image_url>https://example.org/images/thumb_large_a795f872c93309597345.jpg</image_url>
   <image_url_medium>https://example.org/images/thumb_medium_a795f872c93309597345.jpg</image_url_medium>
   <image_url_small>https://example.org/images/thumb_small_a795f872c93309597345.jpg</image_url_small>
+  <bio>some text about me</bio>
   <birthday>1988-07-15</birthday>
   <gender>Male</gender>
-  <bio>some text about me</bio>
   <location>github</location>
   <searchable>true</searchable>
   <public>false</public>
diff --git a/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public.rb b/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public.rb
index c4d1a8b..7711088 100644
--- a/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public.rb
+++ b/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public.rb
@@ -7,11 +7,18 @@ module DiasporaFederation
 
         def validate
           super
-          raise NotPublic if entity_can_be_public_but_it_is_not?
+          validate_public_flag
         end
 
-        def entity_can_be_public_but_it_is_not?
-          entity.respond_to?(:public) && !entity.public
+        def validate_public_flag
+          return if !entity.respond_to?(:public) || entity.public
+
+          if entity.is_a?(Entities::Profile) &&
+            %i[bio birthday gender location].all? {|prop| entity.public_send(prop).nil? }
+            return
+          end
+
+          raise NotPublic, "received entity #{entity} should be public!"
         end
       end
     end
diff --git a/spec/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public_spec.rb b/spec/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public_spec.rb
index 0096120..9815490 100644
--- a/spec/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/diaspora_federation/federation/receiver/public_spec.rb
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ module DiasporaFederation
           described_class.new(magic_env).receive
         end
 
-        it "does not allow non-public entities" do
+        it "doesn't allow non-public entities" do
           private_post = Fabricate(:status_message_entity, public: false)
           magic_env = Salmon::MagicEnvelope.new(private_post, private_post.author)
 
@@ -133,6 +133,24 @@ module DiasporaFederation
 
           described_class.new(magic_env).receive
         end
+
+        it "allows profiles flagged as private if they don't contain private information" do
+          profile = Fabricate(:profile_entity, public: false, bio: nil, birthday: nil, gender: nil, location: nil)
+          magic_env = Salmon::MagicEnvelope.new(profile, profile.author)
+
+          expect_callback(:receive_entity, profile, profile.author, nil)
+
+          described_class.new(magic_env).receive
+        end
+
+        it "doesn't allow profiles flagged as private if they contain private information" do
+          profile = Fabricate(:profile_entity, public: false)
+          magic_env = Salmon::MagicEnvelope.new(profile, profile.author)
+
+          expect {
+            described_class.new(magic_env).receive
+          }.to raise_error Federation::Receiver::NotPublic
+        end
       end
 
       context "with text" do