diff --git a/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java b/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java
index 69638d8..6aa7566 100644
--- a/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java
+++ b/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java
@@ -97,15 +97,6 @@
         final String label = "u:object_r:system_file:s0";
         assertThat(runOnMicrodroid("ls", "-Z", testLib), is(label + " " + testLib));
 
-        // Check if the command in vm_config.json was executed by examining the side effect of the
-        // command
-        assertThat(runOnMicrodroid("getprop", "debug.microdroid.app.run"), is("true"));
-        assertThat(runOnMicrodroid("getprop", "debug.microdroid.app.sublib.run"), is("true"));
-
-        // Check that keystore was found by the payload. Wait until the property is set.
-        tryRunOnMicrodroid("watch -e \"getprop debug.microdroid.test.keystore | grep '^$'\"");
-        assertThat(runOnMicrodroid("getprop", "debug.microdroid.test.keystore"), is("PASS"));
-
         // Check that no denials have happened so far
         assertThat(runOnMicrodroid("logcat -d -e 'avc:[[:space:]]{1,2}denied'"), is(""));
 
diff --git a/tests/testapk/Android.bp b/tests/testapk/Android.bp
index 32c47dd..541e93f 100644
--- a/tests/testapk/Android.bp
+++ b/tests/testapk/Android.bp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     static_libs: [
         "androidx.test.runner",
         "androidx.test.ext.junit",
+        "com.android.microdroid.testservice-java",
     ],
     libs: ["android.system.virtualmachine"],
     jni_libs: ["MicrodroidTestNativeLib"],
diff --git a/tests/testapk/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/MicrodroidTests.java b/tests/testapk/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/MicrodroidTests.java
index b03a915..4736f19 100644
--- a/tests/testapk/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/MicrodroidTests.java
+++ b/tests/testapk/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/MicrodroidTests.java
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@
 
 import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.core.IsNot.not;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 import static org.junit.Assume.assumeNoException;
 import static org.junit.Assume.assumeThat;
 
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@
 
 import android.content.Context;
 import android.os.Build;
+import android.os.IBinder;
 import android.os.ParcelFileDescriptor;
 import android.system.virtualmachine.VirtualMachine;
 import android.system.virtualmachine.VirtualMachineCallback;
@@ -36,6 +39,8 @@
 
 import androidx.test.core.app.ApplicationProvider;
 
+import com.android.microdroid.testservice.ITestService;
+
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Rule;
@@ -49,6 +54,7 @@
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
@@ -132,7 +138,7 @@
     private static final int MIN_MEM_X86_64 = 196;
 
     @Test
-    public void startAndStop() throws VirtualMachineException, InterruptedException {
+    public void connectToVmService() throws VirtualMachineException, InterruptedException {
         VirtualMachineConfig.Builder builder =
                 new VirtualMachineConfig.Builder(mInner.mContext, "assets/vm_config.json");
         if (Build.SUPPORTED_ABIS.length > 0) {
@@ -154,18 +160,46 @@
                     private boolean mPayloadReadyCalled = false;
                     private boolean mPayloadStartedCalled = false;
 
-                    @Override
-                    public void onPayloadStarted(VirtualMachine vm, ParcelFileDescriptor stream) {
-                        mPayloadStartedCalled = true;
+                    private void testVMService(Future<IBinder> service) {
+                        try {
+                            IBinder binder = service.get();
+
+                            ITestService testService = ITestService.Stub.asInterface(binder);
+                            assertEquals(
+                                    testService.addInteger(123, 456),
+                                    123 + 456);
+                            assertEquals(
+                                    testService.readProperty("debug.microdroid.app.run"),
+                                    "true");
+                            assertEquals(
+                                    testService.readProperty("debug.microdroid.app.sublib.run"),
+                                    "true");
+                            assertEquals(
+                                    testService.readProperty("debug.microdroid.test.keystore"),
+                                    "PASS");
+                        } catch (Exception e) {
+                            fail("Exception while testing service: " + e.toString());
+                        }
                     }
 
                     @Override
                     public void onPayloadReady(VirtualMachine vm) {
                         mPayloadReadyCalled = true;
+                        try {
+                            testVMService(vm.connectToVsockServer(ITestService.SERVICE_PORT));
+                        } catch (Exception e) {
+                            fail("Exception while connecting to service: " + e.toString());
+                        }
+
                         forceStop(vm);
                     }
 
                     @Override
+                    public void onPayloadStarted(VirtualMachine vm, ParcelFileDescriptor stream) {
+                        mPayloadStartedCalled = true;
+                    }
+
+                    @Override
                     public void onDied(VirtualMachine vm, @DeathReason int reason) {
                         assertTrue(mPayloadReadyCalled);
                         assertTrue(mPayloadStartedCalled);