diff --git a/apps/federation/lib/Controller/SettingsController.php b/apps/federation/lib/Controller/SettingsController.php
index 79eb06e0fd..40cc4c084a 100644
--- a/apps/federation/lib/Controller/SettingsController.php
+++ b/apps/federation/lib/Controller/SettingsController.php
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ class SettingsController extends Controller {
 		}
 
 		if ($this->trustedServers->isOwnCloudServer($url) === false) {
-			$message = 'No server to federate found';
-			$hint = $this->l->t('No server to federate found');
+			$message = 'No server to federate with found';
+			$hint = $this->l->t('No server to federate with found');
 			throw new HintException($message, $hint);
 		}
 
diff --git a/apps/federation/lib/DbHandler.php b/apps/federation/lib/DbHandler.php
index b30ce74009..c938cfb158 100644
--- a/apps/federation/lib/DbHandler.php
+++ b/apps/federation/lib/DbHandler.php
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class DbHandler {
 		if ($result) {
 			return (int)$this->connection->lastInsertId('*PREFIX*'.$this->dbTable);
 		} else {
-			$message = 'Internal failure, Could not add ownCloud as trusted server: ' . $url;
+			$message = 'Internal failure, Could not add trusted server: ' . $url;
 			$message_t = $this->IL10N->t('Could not add server');
 			throw new HintException($message, $message_t);
 		}
diff --git a/apps/federation/lib/TrustedServers.php b/apps/federation/lib/TrustedServers.php
index fff19e414d..f802af594d 100644
--- a/apps/federation/lib/TrustedServers.php
+++ b/apps/federation/lib/TrustedServers.php
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class TrustedServers {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * check if URL point to a ownCloud server
+	 * check if URL point to a ownCloud/Nextcloud server
 	 *
 	 * @param string $url
 	 * @return bool
@@ -219,15 +219,21 @@ class TrustedServers {
 	public function isOwnCloudServer($url) {
 		$isValidOwnCloud = false;
 		$client = $this->httpClientService->newClient();
-		$result = $client->get(
-			$url . '/status.php',
-			[
-				'timeout' => 3,
-				'connect_timeout' => 3,
-			]
-		);
-		if ($result->getStatusCode() === Http::STATUS_OK) {
-			$isValidOwnCloud = $this->checkOwnCloudVersion($result->getBody());
+		try {
+			$result = $client->get(
+				$url . '/status.php',
+				[
+					'timeout' => 3,
+					'connect_timeout' => 3,
+				]
+			);
+			if ($result->getStatusCode() === Http::STATUS_OK) {
+				$isValidOwnCloud = $this->checkOwnCloudVersion($result->getBody());
+
+			}
+		} catch (\Exception $e) {
+			$this->logger->debug('No Nextcloud server: ' . $e->getMessage());
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		return $isValidOwnCloud;
diff --git a/apps/federation/tests/TrustedServersTest.php b/apps/federation/tests/TrustedServersTest.php
index 63086c7600..1bf1475aef 100644
--- a/apps/federation/tests/TrustedServersTest.php
+++ b/apps/federation/tests/TrustedServersTest.php
@@ -309,7 +309,6 @@ class TrustedServersTest extends TestCase {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * @expectedException \Exception
 	 * @expectedExceptionMessage simulated exception
 	 */
 	public function testIsOwnCloudServerFail() {
@@ -323,7 +322,7 @@ class TrustedServersTest extends TestCase {
 				throw new \Exception('simulated exception');
 			});
 
-		$this->trustedServers->isOwnCloudServer($server);
+		$this->assertFalse($this->trustedServers->isOwnCloudServer($server));
 	}
 
 	/**