diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9080f1d..1aafc48 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ LABEL maintainer="thespad"
 # environment settings
 ARG UNIFI_BRANCH="stable"
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
+ENV ENVSUBST_VERSION=v1.4.3
 
 RUN \
   echo "**** install packages ****" && \
@@ -20,7 +21,11 @@ RUN \
     jsvc \
     logrotate \
     openjdk-17-jre-headless \
-    unzip && \
+    unzip \
+    gettext && \
+  curl -L https://github.com/a8m/envsubst/releases/download/${ENVSUBST_VERSION}/envsubst-`uname -s`-`uname -m` -o envsubst && \
+  chmod +x envsubst && \
+  mv envsubst /usr/local/bin && \
   echo "**** install unifi ****" && \
   if [ -z ${UNIFI_VERSION+x} ]; then \
     UNIFI_VERSION=$(curl -sX GET https://dl.ui.com/unifi/debian/dists/${UNIFI_BRANCH}/ubiquiti/binary-amd64/Packages.gz \
diff --git a/Dockerfile.aarch64 b/Dockerfile.aarch64
index 2909319..91a1645 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.aarch64
+++ b/Dockerfile.aarch64
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ LABEL maintainer="thespad"
 # environment settings
 ARG UNIFI_BRANCH="stable"
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
+ENV ENVSUBST_VERSION=v1.4.3
 
 RUN \
   echo "**** install packages ****" && \
@@ -20,7 +21,11 @@ RUN \
     jsvc \
     logrotate \
     openjdk-17-jre-headless \
-    unzip && \
+    unzip \
+    gettext && \
+  curl -L https://github.com/a8m/envsubst/releases/download/${ENVSUBST_VERSION}/envsubst-`uname -s`-`uname -m` -o envsubst && \
+  chmod +x envsubst && \
+  mv envsubst /usr/local/bin && \
   echo "**** install unifi ****" && \
   if [ -z ${UNIFI_VERSION+x} ]; then \
     UNIFI_VERSION=$(curl -sX GET https://dl.ui.com/unifi/debian/dists/${UNIFI_BRANCH}/ubiquiti/binary-amd64/Packages.gz \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0feafa8..d491dd8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -173,10 +173,8 @@ services:
       - PUID=1000
       - PGID=1000
       - TZ=Etc/UTC
-      - MONGO_USER=unifi
-      - MONGO_PASS=
-      - MONGO_HOST=unifi-db
-      - MONGO_PORT=27017
+      - MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://unifi:password@unifi.mongodb.net/unifi?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=unifi
+      - STAT_MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://unifi:password@unifi.mongodb.net/unifi_stats?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=unifi
       - MONGO_DBNAME=unifi
       - MONGO_AUTHSOURCE=admin
       - MEM_LIMIT=1024 #optional
@@ -205,10 +203,8 @@ docker run -d \
   -e PUID=1000 \
   -e PGID=1000 \
   -e TZ=Etc/UTC \
-  -e MONGO_USER=unifi \
-  -e MONGO_PASS= \
-  -e MONGO_HOST=unifi-db \
-  -e MONGO_PORT=27017 \
+  -e MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://unifi:password@unifi.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=unifi \
+  -e STAT_MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://unifi:password@unifi.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=unifi \
   -e MONGO_DBNAME=unifi \
   -e MONGO_AUTHSOURCE=admin \
   -e MEM_LIMIT=1024 `#optional` \
diff --git a/readme-vars.yml b/readme-vars.yml
index 5fb807b..3ca875f 100644
--- a/readme-vars.yml
+++ b/readme-vars.yml
@@ -24,18 +24,15 @@ param_ports:
   - {external_port: "8080", internal_port: "8080", port_desc: "Required for device communication"}
 param_usage_include_env: true
 param_env_vars:
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_USER", env_value: "unifi", desc: "Mongodb Username. Only evaluated on first run. **Special characters must be [url encoded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding)**."}
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_PASS", env_value: "", desc: "Mongodb Password. Only evaluated on first run. **Special characters must be [url encoded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding)**."}
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_HOST", env_value: "unifi-db", desc: "Mongodb Hostname. Only evaluated on first run."}
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_PORT", env_value: "27017", desc: "Mongodb Port. Only evaluated on first run."}
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_DBNAME", env_value: "unifi", desc: "Mongodb Database Name (stats DB is automatically suffixed with `_stat`). Only evaluated on first run."}
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_AUTHSOURCE", env_value: "admin", desc: "Mongodb [authSource](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/connection-string/#mongodb-urioption-urioption.authSource). For Atlas set to `admin`. Only evaluated on first run."}
+  - {env_var: "MONGO_URI", env_value: "unifi", desc: "MongoDB URI. Only evaluated on first run."}
+  - {env_var: "STAT_MONGO_URI", env_value: "", desc: "MongoDB stat URI. Only evaluated on first run."}
+  - {env_var: "MONGO_DBNAME", env_value: "unifi", desc: "MongoDB Database Name (stats DB is automatically suffixed with `_stat`). Only evaluated on first run."}
 # optional container parameters
 opt_param_usage_include_env: true
 opt_param_env_vars:
   - {env_var: "MEM_LIMIT", env_value: "1024", desc: "Optionally change the Java memory limit (in Megabytes). Set to `default` to reset to default"}
   - {env_var: "MEM_STARTUP", env_value: "1024", desc: "Optionally change the Java initial/minimum memory (in Megabytes). Set to `default` to reset to default"}
-  - {env_var: "MONGO_TLS", env_value: "", desc: "Mongodb enable [TLS](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/connection-string/#mongodb-urioption-urioption.tls). Only evaluated on first run."}
+
 opt_param_usage_include_ports: true
 opt_param_ports:
   - {external_port: "1900", internal_port: "1900/udp", port_desc: "Required for `Make controller discoverable on L2 network` option"}
@@ -181,6 +178,7 @@ init_diagram: |
   "unifi-network-application:latest" <- Base Images
 # changelog
 changelogs:
+  - {date: "07.06.25:", desc: "Change environment variables"}
   - {date: "08.05.25:", desc: "Update sample `init-mongo.sh` for compatibility with 9.1.120 (only affects new installs)."}
   - {date: "13.02.25:", desc: "Revert JRE to 17."}
   - {date: "12.02.25:", desc: "Bump JRE to 21."}
diff --git a/root/defaults/system.properties b/root/defaults/system.properties
index 709e574..ab0084b 100644
--- a/root/defaults/system.properties
+++ b/root/defaults/system.properties
@@ -41,6 +41,6 @@
 # unifi.throughput.port=6789
 #
 db.mongo.local=false
-db.mongo.uri=mongodb://~MONGO_USER~:~MONGO_PASS~@~MONGO_HOST~:~MONGO_PORT~/~MONGO_DBNAME~?tls=~MONGO_TLS~~MONGO_AUTHSOURCE~
-statdb.mongo.uri=mongodb://~MONGO_USER~:~MONGO_PASS~@~MONGO_HOST~:~MONGO_PORT~/~MONGO_DBNAME~_stat?tls=~MONGO_TLS~~MONGO_AUTHSOURCE~
-unifi.db.name=~MONGO_DBNAME~
+db.mongo.uri=$MONGO_URI
+statdb.mongo.uri=$STAT_MONGO_URI
+unifi.db.name=$MONGO_DBNAME
diff --git a/root/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/init-unifi-network-application-config/run b/root/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/init-unifi-network-application-config/run
index fd28c3c..2d14000 100755
--- a/root/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/init-unifi-network-application-config/run
+++ b/root/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/init-unifi-network-application-config/run
@@ -28,39 +28,11 @@ if [[ ! -L "/usr/lib/unifi/run" ]]; then
 fi
 
 if [[ ! -e /config/data/system.properties ]]; then
-    if [[ -z "${MONGO_HOST}" ]]; then
-        echo "*** No MONGO_HOST set, cannot configure database settings. ***"
+    if [[ -z "${MONGO_URI}" || -z "${STAT_MONGO_URI}" || -z "${MONGO_DBNAME}" ]]; then
+        echo "*** Required environment variables are not set, cannot configure database settings. ***"
         sleep infinity
     else
-        echo "*** Waiting for MONGO_HOST ${MONGO_HOST} to be reachable. ***"
-        DBCOUNT=0
-        while true; do
-            if nc -w1 "${MONGO_HOST}" "${MONGO_PORT}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-                break
-            fi
-            DBCOUNT=$((DBCOUNT+1))
-            if [[ ${DBCOUNT} -gt 6 ]]; then
-                echo "*** Defined MONGO_HOST ${MONGO_HOST} is not reachable, cannot proceed. ***"
-                sleep infinity
-            fi
-            sleep 5
-        done
-        sed -i "s/~MONGO_USER~/${MONGO_USER}/" /defaults/system.properties
-        sed -i "s/~MONGO_HOST~/${MONGO_HOST}/" /defaults/system.properties
-        sed -i "s/~MONGO_PORT~/${MONGO_PORT}/" /defaults/system.properties
-        sed -i "s/~MONGO_DBNAME~/${MONGO_DBNAME}/" /defaults/system.properties
-        sed -i "s/~MONGO_PASS~/${MONGO_PASS}/" /defaults/system.properties
-        if [[ "${MONGO_TLS,,}" = "true" ]]; then
-            sed -i "s/~MONGO_TLS~/true/" /defaults/system.properties
-        else
-            sed -i "s/~MONGO_TLS~/false/" /defaults/system.properties
-        fi
-        if [[ -z "${MONGO_AUTHSOURCE}" ]]; then
-            sed -i "s/~MONGO_AUTHSOURCE~//" /defaults/system.properties
-        else
-            sed -i "s/~MONGO_AUTHSOURCE~/\&authSource=${MONGO_AUTHSOURCE}/" /defaults/system.properties
-        fi
-        cp /defaults/system.properties /config/data
+        envsubst < /defaults/system.properties > /config/data/system.properties
     fi
 fi