diff --git a/addons/api/addon/serializers/application.js b/addons/api/addon/serializers/application.js
index 2819231fa..e4531c7fe 100644
--- a/addons/api/addon/serializers/application.js
+++ b/addons/api/addon/serializers/application.js
@@ -37,8 +37,11 @@ export default class ApplicationSerializer extends RESTSerializer {
    * @param {String} key
    * @param {Object} attribute
    */
-  serializeAttribute(snapshot, json, key, { options }) {
+  serializeAttribute(snapshot, json, key, attribute) {
+    const { type, options } = attribute;
     let value = super.serializeAttribute(...arguments);
+    // Convert empty strings to null.
+    if (type === 'string' && json[key] === '') json[key] = null;
     // Do not serialize read-only attributes.
     if (options.readOnly) delete json[key];
     // Version is sent only if it has a non-nullish value
diff --git a/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/application-test.js b/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/application-test.js
index 10de9d4fb..014d80377 100644
--- a/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/application-test.js
+++ b/addons/api/tests/unit/serializers/application-test.js
@@ -70,6 +70,21 @@ module('Unit | Serializer | application', function (hooks) {
     });
   });
 
+  test('it serializes empty strings to null', function (assert) {
+    assert.expect(1);
+    const store = this.owner.lookup('service:store');
+    const record = store.createRecord('user', {
+      name: '',
+      description: '',
+      version: null,
+    });
+    let serializedRecord = record.serialize();
+    assert.deepEqual(serializedRecord, {
+      name: null,
+      description: null,
+    });
+  });
+
   test('it serializes non-nullish version fields', function (assert) {
     assert.expect(2);
     const store = this.owner.lookup('service:store');