diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
deleted file mode 100644
index a692fc2..0000000
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-[submodule "libs/gtest"]
-	path = libs/gtest
-	url = https://github.com/google/googletest.git
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0acd92d..72633bb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ maddy uses [semver versioning](https://semver.org/).
 
 * ![**ADDED**](https://img.shields.io/badge/-ADDED-%23099) Added Changelog
 * ![**ADDED**](https://img.shields.io/badge/-ADDED-%23099) Added contribution guideline
+* ![**CHANGED**](https://img.shields.io/badge/-CHANGED-%23e90) updated cmake minimum required version to 3.25
+* ![**CHANGED**](https://img.shields.io/badge/-CHANGED-%23e90) gtest is now loaded via cmake and not a git submodule any longer - updated gtest version to 1.13.0
 * ?
 
 ## version 1.1.2 2020-10-04
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ec6649f..526e905 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # This project is licensed under the MIT license. For more information see the
 # LICENSE file.
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.25)
 
 project(maddy)
 
@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ endif()
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-set(gtest_force_shared_crt ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
-add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/libs/gtest/googlemock)
 add_subdirectory(libs)
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/libs/CMakeLists.txt b/libs/CMakeLists.txt
index ec8335f..6391206 100644
--- a/libs/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libs/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
 # This project is licensed under the MIT license. For more information see the
 # LICENSE file.
 
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+include(FetchContent)
 
-set(LIBS_INCLUDE_DIRS
-# -- googletest / -mock --------------------------------------------------------
-  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/gtest/googletest/include
-  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/gtest/googlemock/include
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-PARENT_SCOPE)
-
-set(LIBS_SRC_FILES
-PARENT_SCOPE)
+FetchContent_Declare(
+  googletest
+  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
+  GIT_TAG        b796f7d44681514f58a683a3a71ff17c94edb0c1 # v1.13.0
+)
+FetchContent_MakeAvailable(googletest)
diff --git a/libs/gtest b/libs/gtest
deleted file mode 160000
index 703bd9c..0000000
--- a/libs/gtest
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit 703bd9caab50b139428cea1aaff9974ebee5742e