diff --git a/django/db/backends/base/operations.py b/django/db/backends/base/operations.py
index 0c9365ad19..8a8209f7a6 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/base/operations.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/base/operations.py
@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ class BaseDatabaseOperations(object):
         Transforms a string representation of an IP address into the expected
         type for the backend driver.
         """
-        return value
+        return value or None
 
     def year_lookup_bounds_for_date_field(self, value):
         """
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.8.13.txt b/docs/releases/1.8.13.txt
index f725c37f99..0f97c99fdf 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.8.13.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.8.13.txt
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@ Bugfixes
 
 * Fixed ``TimeField`` microseconds round-tripping on MySQL and SQLite
   (:ticket:`26498`).
+
+* Restored conversion of an empty string to null when saving values of
+  ``GenericIPAddressField`` on SQLite and MySQL (:ticket:`26557`).
diff --git a/tests/model_fields/tests.py b/tests/model_fields/tests.py
index 2858086324..3c1660ff19 100644
--- a/tests/model_fields/tests.py
+++ b/tests/model_fields/tests.py
@@ -722,6 +722,14 @@ class GenericIPAddressFieldTests(test.TestCase):
         o = GenericIPAddress.objects.get()
         self.assertIsNone(o.ip)
 
+    def test_blank_string_saved_as_null(self):
+        o = GenericIPAddress.objects.create(ip='')
+        o.refresh_from_db()
+        self.assertIsNone(o.ip)
+        GenericIPAddress.objects.update(ip='')
+        o.refresh_from_db()
+        self.assertIsNone(o.ip)
+
     def test_save_load(self):
         instance = GenericIPAddress.objects.create(ip='::1')
         loaded = GenericIPAddress.objects.get()