diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/ReactContextBuilder.java b/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/ReactContextBuilder.java
index d14383c..14fedcf 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/ReactContextBuilder.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/ReactContextBuilder.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.queue.ReactQueueConfigurationSpec;
 import com.facebook.react.devsupport.interfaces.DevSupportManager;
 import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
+import com.facebook.v8.reactexecutor.V8ExecutorFactory;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
@@ -65,8 +66,19 @@ private JavaScriptExecutorFactory getJSExecutorFactory() {
             SoLoader.loadLibrary("jscexecutor");
             return new JSCExecutorFactory(appName, deviceName);
         } catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError jscE) {
-            // Otherwise use Hermes
-            return new HermesExecutorFactory();
+            // Otherwise try using hermes
+            try {
+                // we try whether we can start the hermes js executor.
+                // If it fails with an UnsatisfiedLinkError we know
+                // that it is not available.
+                JavaScriptExecutor hermes = new HermesExecutorFactory().create();
+                // stop if we were successful
+                hermes.close();
+                return new HermesExecutorFactory();
+            } catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError|NoClassDefFoundError e) {
+                // try v8
+                return new V8ExecutorFactory();
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 73233fc..842c4d7 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@
     "android/",
     "ios/",
     "js/",
-    "index.js"
+    "index.js",
+    "react-native.config.js"
   ],
   "peerDependencies": {
     "react-native": ">=0.50.0"