diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 254804d055..4d9f4bf26f 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -917,6 +917,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/antlr3-3_1-fix-java8-compilation.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/antlr3-3_3-fix-java8-compilation.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/aoflagger-use-system-provided-pybind11.patch \
+  %D%/packages/patches/appstream-force-reload-stemmer.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/apr-fix-atomics.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/apr-skip-getservbyname-test.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/ark-skip-xar-test.patch			\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm b/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm
index d920afe1e7..0dc2b1a243 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ (define-module (gnu packages freedesktop)
 (define-public appstream
   (package
     (name "appstream")
-    (version "0.15.6")
+    (version "0.16.4")
     (source
      (origin
        (method url-fetch)
@@ -148,11 +148,14 @@ (define-public appstream
                        "appstream/releases/"
                        "AppStream-" version ".tar.xz"))
        (sha256
-        (base32 "03pirmc5r4izl6mzff879g7pk1nxq03kgpr2yvnnqnlb6r0ckmi3"))))
+        (base32 "1val1b3dggn9g33q2r9q7wsl75a64x4lcvswvkcjjbvakkbj5xyl"))
+       (patches
+        (search-patches "appstream-force-reload-stemmer.patch"))))
     (build-system meson-build-system)
     (arguments
      (list
       #:glib-or-gtk? #t
+      #:configure-flags #~'("-Dsystemd=false")
       #:phases
       #~(modify-phases %standard-phases
           (add-after 'unpack 'patch-libstemmer
@@ -162,11 +165,6 @@ (define-public appstream
               (substitute* "meson.build"
                 (("/usr/include")
                  (dirname libstemmer.h))))))
-          (add-after 'unpack 'disable-failing-tests
-            (lambda _
-              (substitute* "tests/test-pool.c"
-                (("[ \t]*g_test_add_func \\(\"/AppStream/PoolRead?.*;")
-                 ""))))
           (add-before 'check 'check-setup
             (lambda _
               (setenv "HOME" (getcwd)))))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/appstream-force-reload-stemmer.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/appstream-force-reload-stemmer.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a2cf84c8b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/appstream-force-reload-stemmer.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+From 32182d7a7a67d0d204cd0a37bd211bfd0177bc27 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+Message-ID: <32182d7a7a67d0d204cd0a37bd211bfd0177bc27.1700093066.git.vivien@planete-kraus.eu>
+From: Matthias Klumpp <matthias@tenstral.net>
+Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:59:15 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH] stemmer: Resolve potential issue where stemmer may never be
+ initialized
+
+If the initial locale was equal to the current stemming language, we may
+never have initialized the stemmer (which could lead to crashes or
+stemming being disabled).
+
+So we force the reload to always happen on initialization.
+CC: #558
+---
+ src/as-stemmer.c | 33 +++++++++++++++++++++------------
+ 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/as-stemmer.c b/src/as-stemmer.c
+index 63d45267..16ebd09b 100644
+--- a/src/as-stemmer.c
++++ b/src/as-stemmer.c
+@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ G_DEFINE_TYPE (AsStemmer, as_stemmer, G_TYPE_OBJECT)
+ 
+ static gpointer as_stemmer_object = NULL;
+ 
++static void as_stemmer_reload_internal (AsStemmer *stemmer, const gchar *locale, gboolean force);
++
+ /**
+  * as_stemmer_finalize:
+  **/
+@@ -76,21 +78,14 @@ as_stemmer_init (AsStemmer *stemmer)
+ 
+ 	/* we don't use the locale in XML, so it can be POSIX */
+ 	locale = as_get_current_locale_posix ();
+-	stemmer->current_lang = as_utils_locale_to_language (locale);
+ 
+-	as_stemmer_reload (stemmer, stemmer->current_lang);
++	/* force a reload for initialization */
++	as_stemmer_reload_internal (stemmer, locale, TRUE);
+ #endif
+ }
+ 
+-/**
+- * as_stemmer_reload:
+- * @stemmer: A #AsStemmer
+- * @locale: The stemming language as POSIX locale.
+- *
+- * Allows realoading the #AsStemmer with a different language.
+- */
+-void
+-as_stemmer_reload (AsStemmer *stemmer, const gchar *locale)
++static void
++as_stemmer_reload_internal (AsStemmer *stemmer, const gchar *locale, gboolean force)
+ {
+ #ifdef HAVE_STEMMING
+ 	g_autofree gchar *lang = NULL;
+@@ -99,7 +94,7 @@ as_stemmer_reload (AsStemmer *stemmer, const gchar *locale)
+ 	/* check if we need to reload */
+ 	lang = as_utils_locale_to_language (locale);
+ 	locker = g_mutex_locker_new (&stemmer->mutex);
+-	if (as_str_equal0 (lang, stemmer->current_lang)) {
++	if (!force && as_str_equal0 (lang, stemmer->current_lang)) {
+ 		g_mutex_locker_free (locker);
+ 		return;
+ 	}
+@@ -119,6 +114,20 @@ as_stemmer_reload (AsStemmer *stemmer, const gchar *locale)
+ #endif
+ }
+ 
++/**
++ * as_stemmer_reload:
++ * @stemmer: A #AsStemmer
++ * @locale: The stemming language as POSIX locale.
++ *
++ * Allows realoading the #AsStemmer with a different language.
++ * Does nothing if the stemmer is already using the selected language.
++ */
++void
++as_stemmer_reload (AsStemmer *stemmer, const gchar *locale)
++{
++	as_stemmer_reload_internal (stemmer, locale, FALSE);
++}
++
+ /**
+  * as_stemmer_stem:
+  * @stemmer: A #AsStemmer
+-- 
+2.41.0
+
