diff --git a/zerver/middleware.py b/zerver/middleware.py
index ac49338223..bb21467b26 100644
--- a/zerver/middleware.py
+++ b/zerver/middleware.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ from zerver.lib.exceptions import ErrorCode, JsonableError, MissingAuthenticatio
 from zerver.lib.html_to_text import get_content_description
 from zerver.lib.markdown import get_markdown_requests, get_markdown_time
 from zerver.lib.rate_limiter import RateLimitResult
-from zerver.lib.request import RequestNotes, set_request, unset_request
+from zerver.lib.request import REQ, RequestNotes, has_request_variables, set_request, unset_request
 from zerver.lib.response import json_response, json_response_from_error, json_unauthorized
 from zerver.lib.subdomains import get_subdomain
 from zerver.lib.types import ViewFuncT
@@ -306,14 +306,21 @@ class RequestContext(MiddlewareMixin):
             unset_request()
 
 
-def parse_client(request: HttpRequest) -> Tuple[str, Optional[str]]:
+# We take advantage of `has_request_variables` being called multiple times
+# when processing a request in order to process any `client` parameter that
+# may have been sent in the request content.
+@has_request_variables
+def parse_client(
+    request: HttpRequest,
+    # As `client` is a common element to all API endpoints, we choose
+    # not to document on every endpoint's individual parameters.
+    req_client: Optional[str] = REQ("client", default=None, intentionally_undocumented=True),
+) -> Tuple[str, Optional[str]]:
     # If the API request specified a client in the request content,
-    # that has priority.  Otherwise, extract the client from the
-    # User-Agent.
-    if "client" in request.GET:  # nocoverage
-        return request.GET["client"], None
-    if "client" in request.POST:
-        return request.POST["client"], None
+    # that has priority. Otherwise, extract the client from the
+    # USER_AGENT.
+    if req_client is not None:
+        return req_client, None
     if "HTTP_USER_AGENT" in request.META:
         user_agent: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = parse_user_agent(request.META["HTTP_USER_AGENT"])
     else:
@@ -353,7 +360,13 @@ class LogRequests(MiddlewareMixin):
             # Avoid re-initializing request_notes.log_data if it's already there.
             return
 
-        request_notes.client_name, request_notes.client_version = parse_client(request)
+        try:
+            request_notes.client_name, request_notes.client_version = parse_client(request)
+        except JsonableError as e:
+            logging.exception(e)
+            request_notes.client_name = "Unparsable"
+            request_notes.client_version = None
+
         request_notes.log_data = {}
         record_request_start_data(request_notes.log_data)
 
diff --git a/zerver/tests/test_decorators.py b/zerver/tests/test_decorators.py
index 9b284ce9e4..02c3b13ca4 100644
--- a/zerver/tests/test_decorators.py
+++ b/zerver/tests/test_decorators.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ from zerver.lib.validator import (
     to_non_negative_int,
     to_wild_value,
 )
-from zerver.middleware import parse_client
+from zerver.middleware import LogRequests, parse_client
 from zerver.models import Realm, UserProfile, get_realm, get_user
 
 if settings.ZILENCER_ENABLED:
@@ -129,6 +129,28 @@ class DecoratorTestCase(ZulipTestCase):
         ] = "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 8.0.0; SM-G930F) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/80.0.3987.132 Mobile Safari/537.36"
         self.assertEqual(parse_client(req), ("Mozilla", None))
 
+        post_req_with_client = HostRequestMock()
+        post_req_with_client.POST["client"] = "test_client_1"
+        post_req_with_client.META["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] = "ZulipMobile/26.22.145 (iOS 13.3.1)"
+        self.assertEqual(parse_client(post_req_with_client), ("test_client_1", None))
+
+        get_req_with_client = HostRequestMock()
+        get_req_with_client.GET["client"] = "test_client_2"
+        get_req_with_client.META["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] = "ZulipMobile/26.22.145 (iOS 13.3.1)"
+        self.assertEqual(parse_client(get_req_with_client), ("test_client_2", None))
+
+    def test_unparsable_user_agent(self) -> None:
+        request = HttpRequest()
+        request.POST["param"] = "test"
+        request.META["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] = "mocked should fail"
+        with mock.patch(
+            "zerver.middleware.parse_client", side_effect=JsonableError("message")
+        ) as m, self.assertLogs(level="ERROR"):
+            LogRequests.process_request(self, request)
+        request_notes = RequestNotes.get_notes(request)
+        self.assertEqual(request_notes.client_name, "Unparsable")
+        m.assert_called_once()
+
     def test_REQ_aliases(self) -> None:
         @has_request_variables
         def double(