diff --git a/CHANGELOG-Unreleased.md b/CHANGELOG-Unreleased.md
index 9d43e2bdd..92f09d781 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG-Unreleased.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG-Unreleased.md
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 - [LokiJS] Multitab sync issue fix
 - [Android] Added linker flag for building with 16kB page alignment
 - [TS] make catchError visible to typescript
+- [Observation] Fixed `canEncodeMatcher()` reporting queries containing `Q.unsafeSqlExpr`,
+  `Q.unsafeLokiExpr`, or a `Q.on` nested inside `Q.and`/`Q.or` as encodable.
 
 ### Performance
 
diff --git a/src/observation/encodeMatcher/canEncode.js b/src/observation/encodeMatcher/canEncode.js
index dd6ab8d08..007851915 100644
--- a/src/observation/encodeMatcher/canEncode.js
+++ b/src/observation/encodeMatcher/canEncode.js
@@ -1,11 +1,23 @@
 // @flow
 
-import type { QueryDescription } from '../../QueryDescription'
+import type { QueryDescription, Where } from '../../QueryDescription'
 
-export const forbiddenError = `Queries with joins, sortBy, take, skip, lokiTransform can't be encoded into a matcher`
+export const forbiddenError = `Queries with joins, sortBy, take, skip, lokiTransform, Q.unsafeSqlExpr, Q.unsafeLokiExpr can't be encoded into a matcher`
+
+const isEncodableWhere = (where: Where): boolean => {
+  switch (where.type) {
+    case 'where':
+      return true
+    case 'and':
+    case 'or':
+      return where.conditions.every(isEncodableWhere)
+    default:
+      return false
+  }
+}
 
 export default function canEncodeMatcher(query: QueryDescription): boolean {
-  const { joinTables, nestedJoinTables, sortBy, take, skip, lokiTransform, sql } = query
+  const { joinTables, nestedJoinTables, sortBy, take, skip, lokiTransform, sql, where } = query
 
   return (
     !joinTables.length &&
@@ -14,6 +26,7 @@ export default function canEncodeMatcher(query: QueryDescription): boolean {
     !take &&
     !skip &&
     !lokiTransform &&
-    !sql
+    !sql &&
+    where.every(isEncodableWhere)
   )
 }
diff --git a/src/observation/encodeMatcher/test.js b/src/observation/encodeMatcher/test.js
index 5be8bfd77..f69dd5a99 100644
--- a/src/observation/encodeMatcher/test.js
+++ b/src/observation/encodeMatcher/test.js
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ const unencodableQueries = [
   [Q.take(100)],
   [Q.unsafeLokiTransform(() => {})],
   [Q.unsafeSqlQuery('select * from tasks')],
+  [Q.unsafeSqlExpr('')],
+  [Q.unsafeLokiExpr({})],
+  [Q.or(Q.on('projects', 'team_id', 'abcdef'))],
+  [Q.or(Q.unsafeSqlExpr(''))],
+  [Q.or(Q.unsafeLokiExpr({}))],
 ]
 
 describe('SQLite encodeMatcher', () => {
@@ -61,9 +66,6 @@ describe('SQLite encodeMatcher', () => {
       // console.log(query)
       expect(() => makeMatcher(query)).toThrow(`can't be encoded into a matcher`)
     })
-    expect(() => makeMatcher([Q.or(Q.on('projects', 'team_id', 'abcdef'))])).toThrow('Illegal Q.on')
-    expect(() => makeMatcher([Q.or(Q.unsafeSqlExpr(''))])).toThrow('Illegal')
-    expect(() => makeMatcher([Q.or(Q.unsafeLokiExpr({}))])).toThrow('Illegal')
   })
 })
 
diff --git a/src/observation/test.js b/src/observation/test.js
index f4d6eadfe..1104fe6b1 100644
--- a/src/observation/test.js
+++ b/src/observation/test.js
@@ -96,4 +96,17 @@ describe('common observation tests', () => {
       subscribeToQueryWithColumns(mockDb.tasks.query(...complexQuery), ['position'], observer),
     )
   })
+  const unencodableQuery = Q.unsafeLokiExpr({ is_completed: true })
+  it(`updates list before model - test with an unencodable where clause`, async () => {
+    const mockDb = mockDatabase()
+    await updatesListBeforeModelTest(mockDb, (observer) =>
+      subscribeToQuery(mockDb.tasks.query(unencodableQuery), observer),
+    )
+  })
+  it(`updates list before model - test with an unencodable where clause and columns`, async () => {
+    const mockDb = mockDatabase()
+    await updatesListBeforeModelTest(mockDb, (observer) =>
+      subscribeToQueryWithColumns(mockDb.tasks.query(unencodableQuery), ['position'], observer),
+    )
+  })
 })