diff --git a/android/README.md b/android/README.md
index c5a49c70..b88ae8bb 100644
--- a/android/README.md
+++ b/android/README.md
@@ -77,6 +77,15 @@ The odrcore build is a normal one — `ODR_JNI=ON`, static core linked into
 `libodr_jni.so` — driven by the `android-<arch>` conan profiles in
 `.github/config/conan/profiles`, which pin the NDK and API 26.
 
+The libraries ship unstripped — 60-72 MB per ABI, most of the AAR — so that a
+consuming app's `ndk.debugSymbolLevel` can hand play what it needs to symbolicate
+a crash inside the core. Devices never see it: play serves APKs built from the
+stripped copies, so the weight is on maven central and developer builds only.
+
+It takes both `build_native.py` not stripping and the
+`packaging.jniLibs.keepDebugSymbols` rule in `build.gradle.kts`. Without the
+second the first is invisible.
+
 ## Testing
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/android/build.gradle.kts b/android/build.gradle.kts
index 8ebc590d..7320fceb 100644
--- a/android/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/android/build.gradle.kts
@@ -102,6 +102,15 @@ android {
         targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_17
     }
 
+    packaging {
+        jniLibs {
+            // AGP strips the libraries on their way into the AAR unless told not
+            // to, silently — the published AAR comes out byte-identical to a
+            // fully stripped one however `build_native.py` built it.
+            keepDebugSymbols += "**/*.so"
+        }
+    }
+
     // pushing the instrumented apk onto a cold emulator outlasts ddmlib's
     // default timeout, which surfaces as a ShellCommandUnresponsiveException
     // rather than as a failing test
diff --git a/android/build_native.py b/android/build_native.py
index fc6e4bdb..2df19b23 100644
--- a/android/build_native.py
+++ b/android/build_native.py
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 
 `libc++_shared.so` has to be shipped because the android profiles build against
 the shared c++ runtime and nothing else in a consuming app pulls it in.
+
+Neither is stripped: the NDK's unconditional `-g` is what a consumer's
+`ndk.debugSymbolLevel` turns into symbolicated play crash reports. Costs 60-72 MB
+per ABI, and needs the `keepDebugSymbols` rule in `build.gradle.kts` to survive.
 """
 
 import argparse
@@ -65,13 +69,8 @@ def libcxx_shared(ndk: Path, triple: str) -> Path:
     return matches[0]
 
 
-def strip(ndk: Path, library: Path) -> None:
-    """The NDK compiles with `-g` in every configuration, so a release build of
-    the bindings is ~70 MB until it is stripped."""
-    matches = sorted(ndk.glob("toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/*/bin/llvm-strip"))
-    if not matches:
-        raise SystemExit(f"no llvm-strip under {ndk}")
-    run([matches[0], "--strip-unneeded", library])
+def report(library: Path) -> None:
+    print(f"  {library.name}: {library.stat().st_size // 1024} KiB", flush=True)
 
 
 def build(architecture: str, conan: str, build_profile: str, output: Path) -> None:
@@ -106,7 +105,7 @@ def build(architecture: str, conan: str, build_profile: str, output: Path) -> No
     for source in (cmake_dir / "jni" / "libodr_jni.so", libcxx_shared(ndk, triple)):
         target = jni_libs / source.name
         shutil.copy2(source, target)
-        strip(ndk, target)
+        report(target)
 
 
 def main() -> int: