diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 5f63032e5..345af72fa 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1103,6 +1103,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "brotli",
  "chrono",
  "criterion",
+ "deltachat-time",
  "deltachat_derive",
  "email",
  "encoded-words",
@@ -1223,6 +1224,10 @@ dependencies = [
  "yerpc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "deltachat-time"
+version = "1.0.0"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat_derive"
 version = "2.0.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3beb1d0f0..9299a4e67 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ strip = true
 
 [dependencies]
 deltachat_derive = { path = "./deltachat_derive" }
+deltachat-time = { path = "./deltachat-time" }
 format-flowed = { path = "./format-flowed" }
 ratelimit = { path = "./deltachat-ratelimit" }
 
@@ -128,6 +129,7 @@ members = [
   "deltachat-rpc-server",
   "deltachat-ratelimit",
   "deltachat-repl",
+  "deltachat-time",
   "format-flowed",
 ]
 
diff --git a/deltachat-time/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-time/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a2931d726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deltachat-time/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[package]
+name = "deltachat-time"
+version = "1.0.0"
+description = "Time-related tools"
+edition = "2021"
+license = "MPL-2.0"
+
+[dependencies]
diff --git a/deltachat-time/src/lib.rs b/deltachat-time/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8d7d6f6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deltachat-time/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#![allow(missing_docs)]
+
+use std::sync::RwLock;
+use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
+
+static SYSTEM_TIME_SHIFT: RwLock<Duration> = RwLock::new(Duration::new(0, 0));
+
+/// Fake struct for mocking `SystemTime::now()` for test purposes. You still need to use
+/// `SystemTime` as a struct representing a system time.
+pub struct SystemTimeTools();
+
+impl SystemTimeTools {
+    pub const UNIX_EPOCH: SystemTime = SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH;
+
+    pub fn now() -> SystemTime {
+        return SystemTime::now() + *SYSTEM_TIME_SHIFT.read().unwrap();
+    }
+
+    /// Simulates a system clock forward adjustment by `duration`.
+    pub fn shift(duration: Duration) {
+        *SYSTEM_TIME_SHIFT.write().unwrap() += duration;
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn it_works() {
+        SystemTimeTools::shift(Duration::from_secs(60));
+        let t = SystemTimeTools::now();
+        assert!(t > SystemTime::now());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/chat.rs b/src/chat.rs
index 87b8163c3..a084add08 100644
--- a/src/chat.rs
+++ b/src/chat.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use std::convert::{TryFrom, TryInto};
 use std::fmt;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::str::FromStr;
-use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
+use std::time::Duration;
 
 use anyhow::{anyhow, bail, ensure, Context as _, Result};
 use deltachat_derive::{FromSql, ToSql};
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ use crate::sync::{self, Sync::*, SyncData};
 use crate::tools::{
     buf_compress, create_id, create_outgoing_rfc724_mid, create_smeared_timestamp,
     create_smeared_timestamps, get_abs_path, gm2local_offset, improve_single_line_input,
-    smeared_time, strip_rtlo_characters, time, IsNoneOrEmpty,
+    smeared_time, strip_rtlo_characters, time, IsNoneOrEmpty, SystemTime,
 };
 use crate::webxdc::WEBXDC_SUFFIX;
 
@@ -3656,7 +3656,7 @@ pub enum MuteDuration {
     Forever,
 
     /// Chat is muted for a limited period of time.
-    Until(SystemTime),
+    Until(std::time::SystemTime),
 }
 
 impl rusqlite::types::ToSql for MuteDuration {
diff --git a/src/contact.rs b/src/contact.rs
index 49f85435c..70db10b15 100644
--- a/src/contact.rs
+++ b/src/contact.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use std::convert::{TryFrom, TryInto};
 use std::fmt;
 use std::ops::Deref;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
-use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
+use std::time::UNIX_EPOCH;
 
 use anyhow::{bail, ensure, Context as _, Result};
 use async_channel::{self as channel, Receiver, Sender};
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ use crate::sql::{self, params_iter};
 use crate::sync::{self, Sync::*};
 use crate::tools::{
     duration_to_str, get_abs_path, improve_single_line_input, strip_rtlo_characters, time,
-    EmailAddress,
+    EmailAddress, SystemTime,
 };
 use crate::{chat, stock_str};
 
diff --git a/src/context.rs b/src/context.rs
index 3f3365f51..a297146d6 100644
--- a/src/context.rs
+++ b/src/context.rs
@@ -1217,7 +1217,7 @@ pub fn get_version_str() -> &'static str {
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
+    use std::time::Duration;
 
     use anyhow::Context as _;
     use strum::IntoEnumIterator;
@@ -1234,7 +1234,7 @@ mod tests {
     use crate::mimeparser::SystemMessage;
     use crate::receive_imf::receive_imf;
     use crate::test_utils::{get_chat_msg, TestContext};
-    use crate::tools::create_outgoing_rfc724_mid;
+    use crate::tools::{create_outgoing_rfc724_mid, SystemTime};
 
     #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread", worker_threads = 2)]
     async fn test_wrong_db() -> Result<()> {
diff --git a/src/ephemeral.rs b/src/ephemeral.rs
index 48e0a1ab1..719243f3e 100644
--- a/src/ephemeral.rs
+++ b/src/ephemeral.rs
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ use std::collections::BTreeSet;
 use std::convert::{TryFrom, TryInto};
 use std::num::ParseIntError;
 use std::str::FromStr;
-use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
+use std::time::{Duration, UNIX_EPOCH};
 
 use anyhow::{ensure, Result};
 use async_channel::Receiver;
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ use crate::message::{Message, MessageState, MsgId, Viewtype};
 use crate::mimeparser::SystemMessage;
 use crate::sql::{self, params_iter};
 use crate::stock_str;
-use crate::tools::{duration_to_str, time};
+use crate::tools::{duration_to_str, time, SystemTime};
 
 /// Ephemeral timer value.
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Copy, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
diff --git a/src/sql.rs b/src/sql.rs
index 9333ba161..2909eab2d 100644
--- a/src/sql.rs
+++ b/src/sql.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use crate::message::{Message, MsgId, Viewtype};
 use crate::param::{Param, Params};
 use crate::peerstate::{deduplicate_peerstates, Peerstate};
 use crate::stock_str;
-use crate::tools::{delete_file, time};
+use crate::tools::{delete_file, time, SystemTime};
 
 /// Extension to [`rusqlite::ToSql`] trait
 /// which also includes [`Send`] and [`Sync`].
@@ -850,9 +850,9 @@ pub async fn remove_unused_files(context: &Context) -> Result<()> {
             Ok(mut dir_handle) => {
                 /* avoid deletion of files that are just created to build a message object */
                 let diff = std::time::Duration::from_secs(60 * 60);
-                let keep_files_newer_than = std::time::SystemTime::now()
+                let keep_files_newer_than = SystemTime::now()
                     .checked_sub(diff)
-                    .unwrap_or(std::time::SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH);
+                    .unwrap_or(SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH);
 
                 while let Ok(Some(entry)) = dir_handle.next_entry().await {
                     let name_f = entry.file_name();
diff --git a/src/sync.rs b/src/sync.rs
index e719562a5..b63f919f9 100644
--- a/src/sync.rs
+++ b/src/sync.rs
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ impl Context {
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
+    use std::time::Duration;
 
     use anyhow::bail;
 
@@ -329,6 +329,7 @@ mod tests {
     use crate::contact::{Contact, Origin};
     use crate::test_utils::TestContext;
     use crate::token::Namespace;
+    use crate::tools::SystemTime;
 
     #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread", worker_threads = 2)]
     async fn test_config_sync_msgs() -> Result<()> {
diff --git a/src/tests/verified_chats.rs b/src/tests/verified_chats.rs
index 06adeba0a..a07e093eb 100644
--- a/src/tests/verified_chats.rs
+++ b/src/tests/verified_chats.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use crate::mimeparser::SystemMessage;
 use crate::receive_imf::receive_imf;
 use crate::stock_str;
 use crate::test_utils::{get_chat_msg, mark_as_verified, TestContext, TestContextManager};
+use crate::tools::SystemTime;
 use crate::{e2ee, message};
 
 #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread", worker_threads = 2)]
@@ -792,10 +793,9 @@ async fn test_create_protected_grp_multidev() -> Result<()> {
     );
 
     let sent = alice.send_text(group_id, "Hey").await;
-    // This sleep is necessary to reproduce the bug when the original message is sorted over the
-    // "protection enabled" message so that these messages have different timestamps. The better way
-    // would be to adjust the system time here if we could mock the system clock for the tests.
-    tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(2000)).await;
+    // This time shift is necessary to reproduce the bug when the original message is sorted over
+    // the "protection enabled" message so that these messages have different timestamps.
+    SystemTime::shift(std::time::Duration::from_secs(3600));
     let msg = alice1.recv_msg(&sent).await;
     let group1 = Chat::load_from_db(alice1, msg.chat_id).await?;
     assert_eq!(group1.get_type(), Chattype::Group);
diff --git a/src/timesmearing.rs b/src/timesmearing.rs
index 21c3c57f8..6bd4dbbba 100644
--- a/src/timesmearing.rs
+++ b/src/timesmearing.rs
@@ -79,11 +79,11 @@ impl SmearedTimestamp {
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use std::time::SystemTime;
-
     use super::*;
     use crate::test_utils::TestContext;
-    use crate::tools::{create_smeared_timestamp, create_smeared_timestamps, smeared_time, time};
+    use crate::tools::{
+        create_smeared_timestamp, create_smeared_timestamps, smeared_time, time, SystemTime,
+    };
 
     #[test]
     fn test_smeared_timestamp() {
diff --git a/src/tools.rs b/src/tools.rs
index 7563ab139..865299522 100644
--- a/src/tools.rs
+++ b/src/tools.rs
@@ -15,12 +15,16 @@ use std::str::from_utf8;
 // while being in deep sleep mode, we use `SystemTime` instead, but add an alias for it to document
 // why `Instant` isn't used in those places. Also this can help to switch to another clock impl if
 // we find any.
+use std::time::Duration;
 pub use std::time::SystemTime as Time;
-use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
+#[cfg(not(test))]
+pub use std::time::SystemTime;
 
 use anyhow::{bail, Context as _, Result};
 use base64::Engine as _;
 use chrono::{Local, NaiveDateTime, NaiveTime, TimeZone};
+#[cfg(test)]
+pub use deltachat_time::SystemTimeTools as SystemTime;
 use futures::{StreamExt, TryStreamExt};
 use mailparse::dateparse;
 use mailparse::headers::Headers;