diff --git a/src/components/LoginPage.js b/src/components/LoginPage.js
index 49293db..19280b3 100644
--- a/src/components/LoginPage.js
+++ b/src/components/LoginPage.js
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ const LoginPage = ({ theme }) => {
   var locale = useLocale();
   const setLocale = useSetLocale();
   const translate = useTranslate();
-  const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+  const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
 
   const renderInput = ({
     meta: { touched, error } = {},
diff --git a/src/synapse/authProvider.js b/src/synapse/authProvider.js
index a25a6e8..14ef26c 100644
--- a/src/synapse/authProvider.js
+++ b/src/synapse/authProvider.js
@@ -1,5 +1,20 @@
 import { fetchUtils } from "react-admin";
 
+const ensureHttpsForUrl = url => {
+  if (/^https:\/\//i.test(url)) {
+    return url;
+  }
+  const domain = url.replace(/http.?:\/\//g, "");
+  return "https://" + domain;
+};
+
+const stripTrailingSlash = str => {
+  if (!str) {
+    return;
+  }
+  return str.endsWith("/") ? str.slice(0, -1) : str;
+};
+
 const authProvider = {
   // called when the user attempts to log in
   login: ({ homeserver, username, password }) => {
@@ -13,16 +28,17 @@ const authProvider = {
       }),
     };
 
-    // add 'https://' to homeserver url if its missing
-    let newUrl = window.decodeURIComponent(homeserver);
-    newUrl = newUrl.trim().replace(/\s/g, "");
-    if (!/^https?:\/\//i.test(newUrl)) {
-      homeserver = `https://${newUrl}`;
-    }
+    const url = window.decodeURIComponent(homeserver);
+    const trimmed_url = url.trim().replace(/\s/g, "");
+    const login_api_url =
+      ensureHttpsForUrl(trimmed_url) + "/_matrix/client/r0/login";
 
-    const url = homeserver + "/_matrix/client/r0/login";
-    return fetchUtils.fetchJson(url, options).then(({ json }) => {
-      localStorage.setItem("home_server", json.home_server);
+    return fetchUtils.fetchJson(login_api_url, options).then(({ json }) => {
+      const normalized_base_url = stripTrailingSlash(
+        json.well_known["m.homeserver"].base_url
+      );
+      localStorage.setItem("base_url", normalized_base_url);
+      localStorage.setItem("home_server_url", json.home_server);
       localStorage.setItem("user_id", json.user_id);
       localStorage.setItem("access_token", json.access_token);
       localStorage.setItem("device_id", json.device_id);
diff --git a/src/synapse/dataProvider.js b/src/synapse/dataProvider.js
index 45ffc3f..6f1334a 100644
--- a/src/synapse/dataProvider.js
+++ b/src/synapse/dataProvider.js
@@ -63,11 +63,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
       user_id: user_id,
       guests: guests,
     };
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     const url = `${homeserver_url}?${stringify(query)}`;
 
     return jsonClient(url).then(({ json }) => ({
@@ -78,11 +79,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   getOne: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("getOne " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${params.id}`).then(({ json }) => ({
       data: res.map(json),
     }));
@@ -90,11 +92,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   getMany: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("getMany " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return Promise.all(
       params.ids.map(id => jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${id}`))
     ).then(responses => ({
@@ -116,11 +119,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
       }),
     };
 
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     const url = `${homeserver_url}?${stringify(query)}`;
 
     return jsonClient(url).then(({ headers, json }) => ({
@@ -137,11 +141,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   update: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("update " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${params.data.id}`, {
       method: "PUT",
       body: JSON.stringify(params.data, filterNullValues),
@@ -152,11 +157,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   updateMany: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("updateMany " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return Promise.all(
       params.ids.map(id => jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${id}`), {
         method: "PUT",
@@ -169,11 +175,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   create: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("create " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${params.data.id}`, {
       method: "PUT",
       body: JSON.stringify(params.data, filterNullValues),
@@ -184,11 +191,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   delete: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("delete " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${params.id}`, {
       method: "DELETE",
     }).then(({ json }) => ({
@@ -198,11 +206,12 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
   deleteMany: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("deleteMany " + resource);
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server");
+    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("base_url");
     if (!homeserver || !(resource in resourceMap)) return Promise.reject();
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + res.path;
+
+    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
     return Promise.all(
       params.ids.map(id =>
         jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${id}`, {