diff --git a/java/app.go b/java/app.go
index d937654..f81a764 100755
--- a/java/app.go
+++ b/java/app.go
@@ -218,6 +218,13 @@
 	for _, jniTarget := range ctx.MultiTargets() {
 		variation := append(jniTarget.Variations(),
 			blueprint.Variation{Mutator: "link", Variation: "shared"})
+
+		// If the app builds against an Android SDK use the SDK variant of JNI dependencies
+		// unless jni_uses_platform_apis is set.
+		if a.sdkVersion().specified() && a.sdkVersion().kind != sdkCorePlatform &&
+			!Bool(a.appProperties.Jni_uses_platform_apis) {
+			variation = append(variation, blueprint.Variation{Mutator: "sdk", Variation: "sdk"})
+		}
 		ctx.AddFarVariationDependencies(variation, tag, a.appProperties.Jni_libs...)
 	}
 
diff --git a/java/app_test.go b/java/app_test.go
index 388014f..49dbd12 100644
--- a/java/app_test.go
+++ b/java/app_test.go
@@ -893,6 +893,7 @@
 		cc_library {
 			name: "libjni",
 			system_shared_libs: [],
+			sdk_version: "current",
 			stl: "none",
 		}
 
@@ -1030,26 +1031,26 @@
 
 		android_test {
 			name: "test",
-			sdk_version: "core_platform",
+			sdk_version: "current",
 			jni_libs: ["libjni"],
 		}
 
 		android_test {
 			name: "test_noembed",
-			sdk_version: "core_platform",
+			sdk_version: "current",
 			jni_libs: ["libjni"],
 			use_embedded_native_libs: false,
 		}
 
 		android_test_helper_app {
 			name: "test_helper",
-			sdk_version: "core_platform",
+			sdk_version: "current",
 			jni_libs: ["libjni"],
 		}
 
 		android_test_helper_app {
 			name: "test_helper_noembed",
-			sdk_version: "core_platform",
+			sdk_version: "current",
 			jni_libs: ["libjni"],
 			use_embedded_native_libs: false,
 		}
@@ -1081,6 +1082,10 @@
 				if g, w := !strings.Contains(jniLibZip.Args["jarArgs"], "-L 0"), test.compressed; g != w {
 					t.Errorf("expected jni compressed %v, got %v", w, g)
 				}
+
+				if !strings.Contains(jniLibZip.Implicits[0].String(), "_sdk_") {
+					t.Errorf("expected input %q to use sdk variant", jniLibZip.Implicits[0].String())
+				}
 			}
 		})
 	}