diff --git a/avatar/models.py b/avatar/models.py
index a956b96..86f2a4f 100644
--- a/avatar/models.py
+++ b/avatar/models.py
@@ -9,7 +9,12 @@ from django.utils.hashcompat import md5_constructor
 from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
 from django.db.models import signals
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+try:
+    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+except ImportError:
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+else:
+    User = get_user_model()
 
 try:
     from cStringIO import StringIO
diff --git a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
index 39b4317..31eb589 100644
--- a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
+++ b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
@@ -7,7 +7,12 @@ from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
 from django.utils.hashcompat import md5_constructor
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+try:
+    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+except ImportError:
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+else:
+    User = get_user_model()
 
 from avatar.settings import (AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT,
                              AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL)
diff --git a/avatar/tests.py b/avatar/tests.py
index 74938ab..8f3b381 100644
--- a/avatar/tests.py
+++ b/avatar/tests.py
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.conf import settings
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+try:
+    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+except ImportError:
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+else:
+    User = get_user_model()
 
 from avatar.settings import AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL, AVATAR_MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER
 from avatar.util import get_primary_avatar
diff --git a/avatar/util.py b/avatar/util.py
index d181085..ccb17be 100644
--- a/avatar/util.py
+++ b/avatar/util.py
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@ from django.utils.hashcompat import md5_constructor
 from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
 from django.template.defaultfilters import slugify
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+try:
+    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+except ImportError:
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+else:
+    User = get_user_model()
 
 from avatar.settings import (AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL, AVATAR_CACHE_TIMEOUT,
                              AUTO_GENERATE_AVATAR_SIZES, AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE)
diff --git a/avatar/views.py b/avatar/views.py
index 658bcc2..f90621d 100644
--- a/avatar/views.py
+++ b/avatar/views.py
@@ -7,7 +7,13 @@ from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 
 from django.contrib import messages
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
+try:
+    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+except ImportError:
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+else:
+    User = get_user_model()
 
 from avatar.forms import PrimaryAvatarForm, DeleteAvatarForm, UploadAvatarForm
 from avatar.models import Avatar
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index df35977..7dc32ca 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -92,12 +92,12 @@ template rendering system:
 
 ``{% avatar_url user [size in pixels] %}``
     Renders the URL of the avatar for the given user.  User can be either a
-    ``django.contrib.auth.models.User`` object instance or a username.
+    ``django.contrib.auth.get_user_model()`` object instance or a username.
 
 ``{% avatar user [size in pixels] %}``
-    Renders an HTML ``img`` tag for the given user for the specified size.  User
-    can be either a ``django.contrib.auth.models.User`` object instance or a
-    username.
+    Renders an HTML ``img`` tag for the given user for the specified size. User
+    can be either a ``django.contrib.auth.get_user_model()`` object instance
+    or a username.
 
 ``{% render_avatar avatar [size in pixels] %}``
     Given an actual ``avatar.models.Avatar`` object instance, renders an HTML