diff --git a/src/keymanagement.c b/src/keymanagement.c
index a2f47fe0..dd5a227c 100644
--- a/src/keymanagement.c
+++ b/src/keymanagement.c
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ DYNAMIC_API PEP_STATUS update_identity(
 
     assert(session);
     assert(identity);
-    assert(identity->address);
+    assert(!EMPTY(identity->address));
 
     status = get_identity(session, identity->address, &stored_identity);
     assert(status != PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY);
@@ -78,6 +78,78 @@ DYNAMIC_API PEP_STATUS update_identity(
                 identity->comm_type = PEP_ct_unknown;
         }
 
+        if (identity->lang[0] == 0) {
+            identity->lang[0] = stored_identity->lang[0];
+            identity->lang[1] = stored_identity->lang[1];
+            identity->lang[2] = 0;
+        }
+    }
+    else /* stored_identity == NULL */ {
+        if (!EMPTY(identity->fpr)) {
+            PEP_comm_type _comm_type_key;
+
+            status = get_key_rating(session, identity->fpr, &_comm_type_key);
+            assert(status != PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY);
+            if (status == PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY)
+                return PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+
+            identity->comm_type = _comm_type_key;
+        }
+        else /* EMPTY(identity->fpr) */ {
+            PEP_STATUS status;
+            stringlist_t *keylist;
+            char *_fpr = NULL;
+            identity->comm_type = PEP_ct_unknown;
+
+            status = find_keys(session, identity->address, &keylist);
+            assert(status != PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY);
+            if (status == PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY)
+                return PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+
+            stringlist_t *_keylist;
+            for (_keylist = keylist; _keylist && _keylist->value; _keylist = _keylist->next) {
+                PEP_comm_type _comm_type_key;
+
+                status = get_key_rating(session, _keylist->value, &_comm_type_key);
+                assert(status != PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY);
+                if (status == PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY) {
+                    free_stringlist(keylist);
+                    return PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+                }
+
+                if (identity->comm_type == PEP_ct_unknown) {
+                    if (_comm_type_key != PEP_ct_compromized && _comm_type_key != PEP_ct_unknown) {
+                        identity->comm_type = _comm_type_key;
+                        _fpr = _keylist->value;
+                    }
+                }
+                else {
+                    if (_comm_type_key != PEP_ct_compromized && _comm_type_key != PEP_ct_unknown) {
+                        if (_comm_type_key > identity->comm_type) {
+                            identity->comm_type = _comm_type_key;
+                            _fpr = _keylist->value;
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
+            if (_fpr) {
+                free(identity->fpr);
+
+                identity->fpr = strdup(_fpr);
+                if (identity->fpr == NULL) {
+                    free_stringlist(keylist);
+                    return PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+                }
+                identity->fpr_size = strlen(identity->fpr);
+            }
+            free_stringlist(keylist);
+        }
+    }
+
+    status = PEP_STATUS_OK;
+
+    if (identity->comm_type != PEP_ct_unknown && !EMPTY(identity->user_id)) {
         if (EMPTY(identity->username)) {
             free(identity->username);
             identity->username = strdup(stored_identity->username);
@@ -87,28 +159,6 @@ DYNAMIC_API PEP_STATUS update_identity(
             identity->username_size = stored_identity->username_size;
         }
 
-        if (EMPTY(identity->user_id)) {
-            free(identity->user_id);
-            identity->user_id = strdup(stored_identity->user_id);
-            assert(identity->user_id);
-            if (identity->user_id == NULL)
-                return PEP_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
-            identity->user_id_size = stored_identity->user_id_size;
-        }
-
-        if (identity->lang[0] == 0) {
-            identity->lang[0] = stored_identity->lang[0];
-            identity->lang[1] = stored_identity->lang[1];
-            identity->lang[2] = 0;
-        }
-    }
-    else /* stored_identity == NULL */ {
-        identity->comm_type = PEP_ct_unknown;
-    }
-
-    status = PEP_STATUS_OK;
-
-    if (identity->comm_type != PEP_ct_unknown) {
         status = set_identity(session, identity);
         assert(status == PEP_STATUS_OK);
     }
diff --git a/src/keymanagement.h b/src/keymanagement.h
index edc23b84..ea07dfe7 100644
--- a/src/keymanagement.h
+++ b/src/keymanagement.h
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ extern "C" {
 //      identity->comm_type, the caller must insert the identity into the
 //      asynchronous management implementation, so retrieve_next_identity()
 //      will return this identity later
-//      at least identity->address must be a valid UTF-8 string as input
+//      at least identity->address must be a non-empty UTF-8 string as input
 
 DYNAMIC_API PEP_STATUS update_identity(
         PEP_SESSION session, pEp_identity * identity