diff --git a/include/sentry.h b/include/sentry.h
index c3ecc8494..d9231a51d 100644
--- a/include/sentry.h
+++ b/include/sentry.h
@@ -3510,8 +3510,8 @@ SENTRY_API sentry_metrics_result_t sentry_scope_capture_metric(
 /**
  * Returns the currently set strategy for the handler.
  *
- * This option works for the `inproc` backend on `Linux` and `Android`, and for
- * the `native` backend on `Linux`.
+ * This option works for the `inproc` and `native` backends on `Linux` and
+ * `Android`.
  *
  * The main use-case is when the Native SDK is used in the context of the
  * CLR/Mono runtimes which convert some POSIX signals into managed-code
diff --git a/src/backends/native/sentry_crash_handler.c b/src/backends/native/sentry_crash_handler.c
index f9a83e60c..febefcd27 100644
--- a/src/backends/native/sentry_crash_handler.c
+++ b/src/backends/native/sentry_crash_handler.c
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ crash_signal_handler(int signum, siginfo_t *info, void *context)
     sentry__enter_crash_handler();
     ucontext_t *uctx = (ucontext_t *)context;
 
-#    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_LINUX) && !defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
+#    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_LINUX) || defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
     if (g_handler_strategy == SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_CHAIN_AT_START
         && signum != SIGABRT && uctx) {
         uintptr_t ip = sentry__ucontext_get_ip(uctx);
diff --git a/src/backends/sentry_backend_native.c b/src/backends/sentry_backend_native.c
index 601ae7dee..0479dbc54 100644
--- a/src/backends/sentry_backend_native.c
+++ b/src/backends/sentry_backend_native.c
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
 #        include <mach-o/dyld.h>
 #        include <spawn.h>
 #    endif
+#    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
+#        include <android/api-level.h>
+#    endif
 #endif
 
 #include <inttypes.h>
@@ -1006,10 +1009,20 @@ native_backend_startup(
     }
 
     sentry_handler_strategy_t strategy =
-#    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_LINUX) && !defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
+#    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_LINUX) || defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
         options ? sentry_options_get_handler_strategy(options) :
 #    endif
                 SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_DEFAULT;
+#    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
+    // CHAIN_AT_START invokes the previous handler and expects to regain
+    // control. On Android API < 26, the old debuggerd daemon kills the
+    // crashing process via SIGKILL after the chained handler triggers
+    // it, so we fall back to DEFAULT which chains at the end instead.
+    if (strategy == SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_CHAIN_AT_START
+        && android_get_device_api_level() < 26) {
+        strategy = SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_DEFAULT;
+    }
+#    endif
     if (sentry__crash_handler_init(state->ipc, strategy, NULL) < 0) {
         SENTRY_WARN("failed to initialize crash handler");
 #    if defined(SENTRY_PLATFORM_UNIX)