diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a18600c6085..cf0d89cca02 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - Deprecate `enableTracing` option ([#3777](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3777))
 - Vendor `java.util.Random` and replace `java.security.SecureRandom` usages ([#3783](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3783))
 - Fix potential ANRs due to NDK scope sync ([#3754](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3754))
+- Fix potential ANRs due to NDK System.loadLibrary calls ([#3670](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3670))
 
 ## 7.15.0
 
diff --git a/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/ndk/SentryNdk.java b/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/ndk/SentryNdk.java
index 1ddc04c5243..7245516b49b 100644
--- a/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/ndk/SentryNdk.java
+++ b/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/ndk/SentryNdk.java
@@ -1,23 +1,40 @@
 package io.sentry.android.ndk;
 
 import io.sentry.android.core.SentryAndroidOptions;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 
 @ApiStatus.Internal
 public final class SentryNdk {
 
+  private static final @NotNull CountDownLatch loadLibraryLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+
   private SentryNdk() {}
 
   static {
-    // On older Android versions, it was necessary to manually call "`System.loadLibrary` on all
-    // transitive dependencies before loading [the] main library."
-    // The dependencies of `libsentry.so` are currently `lib{c,m,dl,log}.so`.
-    // See
-    // https://android.googlesource.com/platform/bionic/+/master/android-changes-for-ndk-developers.md#changes-to-library-dependency-resolution
-    System.loadLibrary("log");
-    System.loadLibrary("sentry");
-    System.loadLibrary("sentry-android");
+    new Thread(
+            () -> {
+              // On older Android versions, it was necessary to manually call "`System.loadLibrary`
+              // on all
+              // transitive dependencies before loading [the] main library."
+              // The dependencies of `libsentry.so` are currently `lib{c,m,dl,log}.so`.
+              // See
+              // https://android.googlesource.com/platform/bionic/+/master/android-changes-for-ndk-developers.md#changes-to-library-dependency-resolution
+              try {
+                System.loadLibrary("log");
+                System.loadLibrary("sentry");
+                System.loadLibrary("sentry-android");
+              } catch (Throwable t) {
+                // ignored
+                // if loadLibrary() fails, the later init() will throw an exception anyway
+              } finally {
+                loadLibraryLatch.countDown();
+              }
+            },
+            "SentryNdkLoadLibs")
+        .start();
   }
 
   private static native void initSentryNative(@NotNull final SentryAndroidOptions options);
@@ -31,14 +48,23 @@ private SentryNdk() {}
    */
   public static void init(@NotNull final SentryAndroidOptions options) {
     SentryNdkUtil.addPackage(options.getSdkVersion());
-    initSentryNative(options);
+    try {
+      if (loadLibraryLatch.await(2000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)) {
+        initSentryNative(options);
 
-    // only add scope sync observer if the scope sync is enabled.
-    if (options.isEnableScopeSync()) {
-      options.addScopeObserver(new NdkScopeObserver(options));
-    }
+        // only add scope sync observer if the scope sync is enabled.
+        if (options.isEnableScopeSync()) {
+          options.addScopeObserver(new NdkScopeObserver(options));
+        }
 
-    options.setDebugImagesLoader(new DebugImagesLoader(options, new NativeModuleListLoader()));
+        options.setDebugImagesLoader(new DebugImagesLoader(options, new NativeModuleListLoader()));
+      } else {
+        throw new IllegalStateException("Timeout waiting for Sentry NDK library to load");
+      }
+    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+      throw new IllegalStateException(
+          "Thread interrupted while waiting for NDK libs to be loaded", e);
+    }
   }
 
   /** Closes the NDK integration */