diff --git a/android/app/build.gradle b/android/app/build.gradle
index 092000c55..1c9edffdf 100644
--- a/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -116,6 +116,41 @@ gradle.projectsEvaluated {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    // Run React packager
+    android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
+        def targetName = variant.name.capitalize()
+
+        def currentRunPackagerTask = tasks.create(
+                name: "run${targetName}ReactPackager",
+                type: Exec) {
+            group = "react"
+            description = "Run the React packager."
+
+            doFirst {
+                println "Starting the React packager..."
+
+                def androidRoot = file("${projectDir}/../")
+
+                // Set up the call to the script
+                workingDir androidRoot
+
+                // Run the packager
+                commandLine("scripts/run-packager.sh")
+            }
+
+            // Set up dev mode
+            def devEnabled = !targetName.toLowerCase().contains("release")
+
+            // Only enable for dev builds
+            enabled devEnabled
+        }
+
+        def packageTask = variant.packageApplicationProvider.get()
+
+        packageTask.dependsOn(currentRunPackagerTask)
+    }
+
 }
 
 if (googleServicesEnabled) {
diff --git a/android/scripts/run-packager.sh b/android/scripts/run-packager.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d57658318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/android/scripts/run-packager.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# This script is executed bt Gradle to start the React packager for Debug
+# targets.
+
+THIS_DIR=$(cd -P "$(dirname "$(readlink "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" || echo "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")" && pwd)
+
+export RCT_METRO_PORT="${RCT_METRO_PORT:=8081}"
+echo "export RCT_METRO_PORT=${RCT_METRO_PORT}" > "${THIS_DIR}/../../node_modules/react-native/scripts/.packager.env"
+
+if nc -w 5 -z localhost ${RCT_METRO_PORT} ; then
+  if ! curl -s "http://localhost:${RCT_METRO_PORT}/status" | grep -q "packager-status:running" ; then
+    echo "Port ${RCT_METRO_PORT} already in use, packager is either not running or not running correctly"
+    exit 2
+  fi
+else
+    CMD="${THIS_DIR}/../../node_modules/react-native/scripts/launchPackager.command"
+    if [[ `uname` == "Darwin"  ]]; then
+        open -g "${CMD}" || echo "Can't start packager automatically"
+    else
+        xdg-open "${CMD}" || echo "Can't start packager automatically"
+    fi
+fi
+