diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 506807466..fc79c6a80 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 **Breaking changes**:
 
 - If you use a narrow string path interface (for instance, `sentry_options_set_database_path()`) on _Windows_ rather than one of the wide string variants (`sentry_options_set_database_pathw()`), then the expected encoding is now UTF-8. ([#1413](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-native/pull/1413))
+- Android NDK: `SentryNdk.init(NdkOptions)` now returns an `int` (0 success, non-zero failure) instead of `void`, exposing the result of `sentry_init()`. ([#1430](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-native/pull/1430))
 
 **Fixes**:
 
diff --git a/ndk/lib/src/main/java/io/sentry/ndk/SentryNdk.java b/ndk/lib/src/main/java/io/sentry/ndk/SentryNdk.java
index d43ac268a..5c7c914eb 100644
--- a/ndk/lib/src/main/java/io/sentry/ndk/SentryNdk.java
+++ b/ndk/lib/src/main/java/io/sentry/ndk/SentryNdk.java
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ public final class SentryNdk {
 
   private SentryNdk() {}
 
-  private static native void initSentryNative(@NotNull final NdkOptions options);
+  /**
+   * Initializes sentry-native and returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.
+   */
+  private static native int initSentryNative(@NotNull final NdkOptions options);
 
   private static native void shutdown();
 
@@ -19,9 +22,9 @@ private SentryNdk() {}
    *
    * @param options the SentryAndroidOptions
    */
-  public static void init(@NotNull final NdkOptions options) {
+  public static int init(@NotNull final NdkOptions options) {
     loadNativeLibraries();
-    initSentryNative(options);
+    return initSentryNative(options);
   }
 
   /** Closes the NDK integration */
diff --git a/ndk/lib/src/main/jni/sentry.c b/ndk/lib/src/main/jni/sentry.c
index 827ec5bab..6be3765c3 100644
--- a/ndk/lib/src/main/jni/sentry.c
+++ b/ndk/lib/src/main/jni/sentry.c
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ static void send_envelope(sentry_envelope_t *envelope, void *data) {
     sentry_envelope_free(envelope);
 }
 
-JNIEXPORT void JNICALL
+JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL
 Java_io_sentry_ndk_SentryNdk_initSentryNative(
         JNIEnv *env,
         jclass cls,
@@ -355,8 +355,8 @@ Java_io_sentry_ndk_SentryNdk_initSentryNative(
     jfloat traces_sample_rate = (jfloat) (*env)->CallFloatMethod(env, sentry_ndk_options, traces_sample_rate_mid);
     sentry_options_set_traces_sample_rate(options, traces_sample_rate);
 
-    sentry_init(options);
-    return;
+    int rv = sentry_init(options);
+    return (jint) rv;
 
     fail:
     if (!transport_owns_path) {
@@ -366,6 +366,7 @@ Java_io_sentry_ndk_SentryNdk_initSentryNative(
         sentry_transport_free(transport);
     }
     sentry_options_free(options);
+    return (jint) -1;
 }
 
 JNIEXPORT void JNICALL