diff --git a/add-on/manifest.json b/add-on/manifest.json
index 4c87c693e..83839d25d 100644
--- a/add-on/manifest.json
+++ b/add-on/manifest.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     "manifest_version": 2,
     "name": "__MSG_manifest_extensionName__",
     "short_name": "__MSG_manifest_shortExtensionName__",
-    "version" : "2.1.0",
+    "version" : "2.1.1",
 
     "description": "__MSG_manifest_extensionDescription__",
     "homepage_url": "https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-companion",
diff --git a/add-on/src/lib/ipfs-request.js b/add-on/src/lib/ipfs-request.js
index fa0423b07..f9e859e0c 100644
--- a/add-on/src/lib/ipfs-request.js
+++ b/add-on/src/lib/ipfs-request.js
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ function createRequestModifier (getState, dnsLink, ipfsPathValidator) {
       return
     }
 
+    // skip all local requests
+    if (request.url.startsWith('http://127.0.0.1:') || request.url.startsWith('http://localhost:')) {
+      return
+    }
+
     // poor-mans protocol handlers - https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-companion/issues/164#issuecomment-328374052
     if (state.catchUnhandledProtocols && mayContainUnhandledIpfsProtocol(request)) {
       const fix = normalizedUnhandledIpfsProtocol(request, state.pubGwURLString)
diff --git a/add-on/src/lib/options.js b/add-on/src/lib/options.js
index 1ec63772e..ec3a5771b 100644
--- a/add-on/src/lib/options.js
+++ b/add-on/src/lib/options.js
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ const optionDefaults = Object.freeze({
   preloadAtPublicGateway: true,
   catchUnhandledProtocols: true,
   displayNotifications: true,
-  customGatewayUrl: 'http://127.0.0.1:8080',
-  ipfsApiUrl: 'http://127.0.0.1:5001',
+  customGatewayUrl: 'http://localhost:8080',
+  ipfsApiUrl: 'http://localhost:5001',
   ipfsApiPollMs: 3000
 })
 
@@ -42,3 +42,12 @@ function storeMissingOptions (read, defaults, storage) {
 }
 
 exports.storeMissingOptions = storeMissingOptions
+
+function normalizeGatewayURL (url) {
+  // https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-companion/issues/291
+  return url
+    .replace('/127.0.0.1:', '/localhost:')
+    .replace('/gateway.ipfs.io', '/ipfs.io')
+}
+
+exports.normalizeGatewayURL = normalizeGatewayURL
diff --git a/add-on/src/options/options.js b/add-on/src/options/options.js
index 4c14196b4..35ed33925 100644
--- a/add-on/src/options/options.js
+++ b/add-on/src/options/options.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 /* eslint-env browser, webextensions */
 
 const browser = require('webextension-polyfill')
-const { optionDefaults } = require('../lib/options')
+const { optionDefaults, normalizeGatewayURL } = require('../lib/options')
 const translateDataAttrs = require('../lib/data-i18n')
 
 translateDataAttrs()
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ async function saveOption (name) {
     switch (element.type) {
       case 'text':
       case 'number':
-      case 'url':
         change[name] = element.value
         break
+      case 'url':
+        change[name] = normalizeGatewayURL(element.value)
+        break
       case 'textarea':
         // normalize input into a string of entries separated by a single space
         change[name] = element.value.replace(/[\r\n,;]+/g, ' ').replace(/ +(?= )/g, '').trim()
diff --git a/add-on/src/popup/browser-action/gateway-status.js b/add-on/src/popup/browser-action/gateway-status.js
index 2fa8ca3e4..9e4cd8393 100644
--- a/add-on/src/popup/browser-action/gateway-status.js
+++ b/add-on/src/popup/browser-action/gateway-status.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ module.exports = function gatewayStatus ({
     <ul class="list mv3 ph3">
       <li class="flex mb1">
         <span class="w-50 f6 ttu">${browser.i18n.getMessage('panel_statusGatewayAddress')}</span>
-        <span class="w-50 f6 ttu tr">${gatewayAddress == null ? 'unknown' : gatewayAddress}</span>
+        <span class="w-50 f6 truncate tr">${gatewayAddress == null ? 'unknown' : gatewayAddress}</span>
       </li>
       <li class="flex mb1">
         <span class="w-50 f6 ttu">${browser.i18n.getMessage('panel_statusGatewayVersion')}</span>
diff --git a/test/functional/lib/ipfs-request.test.js b/test/functional/lib/ipfs-request.test.js
index 0af06455f..9e7ca1e9e 100644
--- a/test/functional/lib/ipfs-request.test.js
+++ b/test/functional/lib/ipfs-request.test.js
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ describe('modifyRequest', function () {
       peerCount: 1,
       redirect: true,
       catchUnhandledProtocols: true,
-      gwURLString: 'http://127.0.0.1:8080'
+      gwURLString: 'http://localhost:8080'
     })
     const getState = () => state
     dnsLink = createDnsLink(getState)
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ describe('modifyRequest', function () {
   describe('request for a path matching /ipfs/{CIDv0}', function () {
     it('should be served from custom gateway if redirect is enabled', function () {
       const request = url2request('https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR?argTest#hashTest')
-      expect(modifyRequest(request).redirectUrl).to.equal('http://127.0.0.1:8080/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR?argTest#hashTest')
+      expect(modifyRequest(request).redirectUrl).to.equal('http://localhost:8080/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR?argTest#hashTest')
     })
     it('should be left untouched if redirect is disabled', function () {
       state.redirect = false
@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@ describe('modifyRequest', function () {
       dnsLink.readDnslinkFromTxtRecord = sinon.stub().withArgs(fqdn).returns('/ipfs/Qmazvovg6Sic3m9igZMKoAPjkiVZsvbWWc8ZvgjjK1qMss')
       // pretend API is online and we can do dns lookups with it
       state.peerCount = 1
-      expect(modifyRequest(request).redirectUrl).to.equal('http://127.0.0.1:8080/ipns/ipfs.git.sexy/index.html?argTest#hashTest')
+      expect(modifyRequest(request).redirectUrl).to.equal('http://localhost:8080/ipns/ipfs.git.sexy/index.html?argTest#hashTest')
     })
     it('should be served from custom gateway if {path} starts with a valid CID', function () {
       const request = url2request('https://ipfs.io/ipns/QmSWnBwMKZ28tcgMFdihD8XS7p6QzdRSGf71cCybaETSsU/index.html?argTest#hashTest')
       dnsLink.readDnslinkFromTxtRecord = sinon.stub().returns(false)
-      expect(modifyRequest(request).redirectUrl).to.equal('http://127.0.0.1:8080/ipns/QmSWnBwMKZ28tcgMFdihD8XS7p6QzdRSGf71cCybaETSsU/index.html?argTest#hashTest')
+      expect(modifyRequest(request).redirectUrl).to.equal('http://localhost:8080/ipns/QmSWnBwMKZ28tcgMFdihD8XS7p6QzdRSGf71cCybaETSsU/index.html?argTest#hashTest')
     })
     it('should be left untouched if redirect is disabled', function () {
       state.redirect = false
@@ -216,6 +216,22 @@ describe('modifyRequest', function () {
     })
   })
 
+  describe('request for IPFS path at a localhost', function () {
+    // we do not touch local requests, as it may interfere with other nodes running at the same machine
+    // or could produce false-positives such as redirection from 127.0.0.1:5001/ipfs/path to localhost:8080/ipfs/path
+    it('should be left untouched if 127.0.0.1 is used', function () {
+      state.redirect = false
+      const request = url2request('http://127.0.0.1:5001/ipfs/QmPhnvn747LqwPYMJmQVorMaGbMSgA7mRRoyyZYz3DoZRQ/')
+      expect(modifyRequest(request)).to.equal(undefined)
+    })
+    it('should be left untouched if localhost is used', function () {
+      // https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-companion/issues/291
+      state.redirect = false
+      const request = url2request('http://localhost:5001/ipfs/QmPhnvn747LqwPYMJmQVorMaGbMSgA7mRRoyyZYz3DoZRQ/')
+      expect(modifyRequest(request)).to.equal(undefined)
+    })
+  })
+
   after(() => {
     delete global.URL
   })