diff --git a/app/Services/Api/V1/ApiV1Presenter.php b/app/Services/Api/V1/ApiV1Presenter.php
index d91352dcb..85e2299bc 100644
--- a/app/Services/Api/V1/ApiV1Presenter.php
+++ b/app/Services/Api/V1/ApiV1Presenter.php
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ use Illuminate\Http\Response;
 
 final readonly class ApiV1Presenter
 {
+    // JSON_HEX_TAG would turn category separators such as ">" into "\u003E".
+    private const JSON_ENCODING_OPTIONS = JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE;
+
     public function __construct(private ApiCapabilitiesService $capabilities) {}
 
     /**
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ final readonly class ApiV1Presenter
             if ($array === false) {
                 return showApiError(201);
             }
-            $body = json_encode($array, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
+            $body = json_encode($array, self::JSON_ENCODING_OPTIONS);
             $contentType = 'application/json';
         }
 
diff --git a/app/Services/Api/V2/ApiV2Presenter.php b/app/Services/Api/V2/ApiV2Presenter.php
index 2d4bf3a9f..dcc68f089 100644
--- a/app/Services/Api/V2/ApiV2Presenter.php
+++ b/app/Services/Api/V2/ApiV2Presenter.php
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;
 
 final class ApiV2Presenter
 {
+    // JSON_HEX_TAG would turn category separators such as ">" into "\u003E".
     private const JSON_ENCODING_OPTIONS = JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE;
 
     /** @param array<string, mixed> $data */
diff --git a/tests/Feature/ApiRequestMatrixTest.php b/tests/Feature/ApiRequestMatrixTest.php
index bf6db6973..951f38202 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/ApiRequestMatrixTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/ApiRequestMatrixTest.php
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ class ApiRequestMatrixTest extends TestCase
         $releaseSearchService = Mockery::mock(ReleaseSearchService::class);
         $releaseSearchService->shouldReceive('apiSearch')
             ->once()
-            ->with('ubuntu', -1, 0, 100, -1, [5030], [-1], 0, 'posted_desc')
+            ->with('ubuntu', -1, 0, 100, -1, [5030], [-1], 0, 'posted_desc', null)
             ->andReturn(collect());
 
         $releaseBrowseService = Mockery::mock(ReleaseBrowseService::class);
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class ApiRequestMatrixTest extends TestCase
         $releaseSearchService = Mockery::mock(ReleaseSearchService::class);
         $releaseSearchService->shouldReceive('apiSearch')
             ->once()
-            ->with('ubuntu', -1, 0, 100, -1, [5030], [-1], 0, 'posted_desc')
+            ->with('ubuntu', -1, 0, 100, -1, [5030], [-1], 0, 'posted_desc', null)
             ->andReturn(collect([
                 (object) [
                     '_totalrows' => 1,
@@ -250,6 +250,51 @@ class ApiRequestMatrixTest extends TestCase
         $this->assertStringNotContainsString('\u003E', $content);
     }
 
+    public function test_v1_search_keeps_category_separator_unescaped_in_json_body(): void
+    {
+        $token = (string) DB::table('users')->value('api_token');
+        $request = Request::create('/api/v1/api', 'GET', [
+            't' => 'search',
+            'o' => 'json',
+            'apikey' => $token,
+            'q' => 'ubuntu',
+        ]);
+
+        $releaseSearchService = Mockery::mock(ReleaseSearchService::class);
+        $releaseSearchService->shouldReceive('apiSearch')
+            ->once()
+            ->with('ubuntu', -1, 0, 100, -1, [5030], [-1], 0, 'posted_desc')
+            ->andReturn(collect([
+                (object) [
+                    '_totalrows' => 1,
+                    'searchname' => 'Ubuntu.Movie.Release',
+                    'guid' => 'movie-release-guid',
+                    'categories_id' => 2040,
+                    'category_name' => 'Movies > WEBDL',
+                    'adddate' => '2026-01-03 00:00:00',
+                    'size' => 123456,
+                    'totalpart' => 10,
+                    'grabs' => 2,
+                    'comments' => 1,
+                    'passwordstatus' => 0,
+                    'postdate' => '2026-01-02 00:00:00',
+                ],
+            ]));
+
+        $releaseBrowseService = Mockery::mock(ReleaseBrowseService::class);
+        $releaseBrowseService->shouldNotReceive('getBrowseRangeForApi');
+
+        $controller = new ApiController($releaseSearchService, $releaseBrowseService);
+        $response = $controller->api($request);
+
+        $this->assertNotNull($response);
+        $content = $response->getContent();
+
+        $this->assertIsString($content);
+        $this->assertStringContainsString('"category":"Movies > WEBDL"', $content);
+        $this->assertStringNotContainsString('\u003E', $content);
+    }
+
     public function test_v1_search_reuses_cached_release_rows(): void
     {
         $token = (string) DB::table('users')->value('api_token');