diff --git a/posting/list.go b/posting/list.go
index 10ca4fe80be..3c993e9f668 100644
--- a/posting/list.go
+++ b/posting/list.go
@@ -601,10 +601,18 @@ func (l *List) iterate(readTs uint64, afterUid uint64, f func(obj *pb.Posting) e
 	return err
 }
 
-func (l *List) IsEmpty() bool {
+func (l *List) IsEmpty(readTs, afterUid uint64) (bool, error) {
 	l.RLock()
 	defer l.RUnlock()
-	return codec.ApproxLen(l.plist.Pack) == 0 && len(l.mutationMap) == 0
+	var count int
+	err := l.iterate(readTs, afterUid, func(p *pb.Posting) error {
+		count++
+		return ErrStopIteration
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return count == 0, nil
 }
 
 func (l *List) length(readTs, afterUid uint64) int {
@@ -655,7 +663,7 @@ func (l *List) MarshalToKv() (*pb.KV, error) {
 }
 
 func marshalPostingList(plist *pb.PostingList) (data []byte, meta byte) {
-	if plist.Pack == nil {
+	if plist.Pack == nil || len(plist.Pack.Blocks) == 0 {
 		return nil, BitEmptyPosting
 	}
 	data, err := plist.Marshal()
diff --git a/worker/task.go b/worker/task.go
index f48b882836b..83ac627b673 100644
--- a/worker/task.go
+++ b/worker/task.go
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/dgraph-io/dgraph/types"
 	"github.com/dgraph-io/dgraph/types/facets"
 	"github.com/dgraph-io/dgraph/x"
+	"github.com/golang/glog"
 
 	cindex "github.com/google/codesearch/index"
 	cregexp "github.com/google/codesearch/regexp"
@@ -561,12 +562,11 @@ func handleUidPostings(ctx context.Context, args funcArgs, opts posting.ListOpti
 				out.UidMatrix = append(out.UidMatrix, tlist)
 			}
 		case srcFn.fnType == HasFn:
-			len := pl.Length(args.q.ReadTs, 0)
-			if len == -1 {
-				return posting.ErrTsTooOld
+			empty, err := pl.IsEmpty(args.q.ReadTs, 0)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
 			}
-			count := int64(len)
-			if EvalCompare("gt", count, 0) {
+			if !empty {
 				tlist := &pb.List{Uids: []uint64{q.UidList.Uids[i]}}
 				out.UidMatrix = append(out.UidMatrix, tlist)
 			}
@@ -1003,12 +1003,25 @@ func filterGeoFunction(arg funcArgs) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// TODO: This function is really slow when there are a lot of UIDs to filter, for e.g. when used in
+// `has(name)`. We could potentially have a query level cache, which can be used to speed things up
+// a bit. Or, try to reduce the number of UIDs which make it here.
 func filterStringFunction(arg funcArgs) error {
+	if glog.V(3) {
+		glog.Infof("filterStringFunction. arg: %+v\n", arg.q)
+		defer glog.Infof("Done filterStringFunction")
+	}
+
 	attr := arg.q.Attr
 	uids := algo.MergeSorted(arg.out.UidMatrix)
 	var values [][]types.Val
 	filteredUids := make([]uint64, 0, len(uids.Uids))
 	lang := langForFunc(arg.q.Langs)
+
+	// This iteration must be done in a serial order, because we're also storing the values in a
+	// matrix, to check it later.
+	// TODO: This function can be optimized by having a query specific cache, which can be populated
+	// by the handleHasFunction for e.g. for a `has(name)` query.
 	for _, uid := range uids.Uids {
 		key := x.DataKey(attr, uid)
 		pl, err := posting.Get(key)
@@ -1615,11 +1628,11 @@ func (cp *countParams) evaluate(out *pb.Result) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// handleHasFunction looks at both the inmemory btree populated by
-// posting/lists.go, and Badger. Thus, it can capture both committed
-// transactions and in-progress transactions. It also accounts for transaction
-// start ts.
 func handleHasFunction(ctx context.Context, q *pb.Query, out *pb.Result) error {
+	if glog.V(3) {
+		glog.Infof("handleHasFunction query: %+v\n", q)
+	}
+
 	txn := pstore.NewTransactionAt(q.ReadTs, false)
 	defer txn.Discard()
 
@@ -1637,13 +1650,15 @@ func handleHasFunction(ctx context.Context, q *pb.Query, out *pb.Result) error {
 
 	result := &pb.List{}
 	var prevKey []byte
-	var w int
 	itOpt := badger.DefaultIteratorOptions
 	itOpt.PrefetchValues = false
 	itOpt.AllVersions = true
 	it := txn.NewIterator(itOpt)
 	defer it.Close()
 
+	// This function could be switched to the stream.Lists framework, but after the change to use
+	// BitCompletePosting, the speed here is already pretty fast. The slowdown for @lang predicates
+	// occurs in filterStringFunction (like has(name) queries).
 	for it.Seek(startKey); it.ValidForPrefix(prefix); {
 		item := it.Item()
 		if bytes.Equal(item.Key(), prevKey) {
@@ -1656,24 +1671,26 @@ func handleHasFunction(ctx context.Context, q *pb.Query, out *pb.Result) error {
 		// iterator.
 		pk := x.Parse(item.Key())
 
+		// The following optimization speeds up this iteration considerably, because it avoids
+		// the need to run ReadPostingList.
+		if item.UserMeta()&posting.BitCompletePosting > 0 {
+			// This bit would only be set if there are valid uids in UidPack.
+			result.Uids = append(result.Uids, pk.Uid)
+			continue
+		}
+
 		// We do need to copy over the key for ReadPostingList.
 		l, err := posting.ReadPostingList(item.KeyCopy(nil), it)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		var num int
-		if err = l.Iterate(q.ReadTs, 0, func(_ *pb.Posting) error {
-			num++
-			return posting.ErrStopIteration
-		}); err != nil {
+		if empty, err := l.IsEmpty(q.ReadTs, 0); err != nil {
 			return err
-		}
-		if num > 0 {
+		} else if !empty {
 			result.Uids = append(result.Uids, pk.Uid)
-			w++
 		}
 
-		if w%1000 == 0 {
+		if len(result.Uids)%100000 == 0 {
 			select {
 			case <-ctx.Done():
 				return ctx.Err()