diff --git a/social_core/backends/apple.py b/social_core/backends/apple.py
index e74e19e5a..a78c0e664 100644
--- a/social_core/backends/apple.py
+++ b/social_core/backends/apple.py
@@ -142,10 +142,9 @@ def get_user_details(self, response):
 
         email = response.get('email', '')
         apple_id = response.get(self.ID_KEY, '')
-        # prevent updating User with empty strings
         user_details = {
-            'first_name': first_name or None,
-            'last_name': last_name or None,
+            'first_name': first_name,
+            'last_name': last_name,
             'email': email,
         }
         if email and self.setting('EMAIL_AS_USERNAME'):
diff --git a/social_core/backends/saml.py b/social_core/backends/saml.py
index 985d37edb..104505d9c 100644
--- a/social_core/backends/saml.py
+++ b/social_core/backends/saml.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def get_attr(self, attributes, conf_key, default_attribute):
             if len(value):
                 value = value[0]
             else:
-                value = None
+                value = ''
         return value
 
     @property