diff --git a/src/api-impl-jni/util.c b/src/api-impl-jni/util.c
index c621e4fe..f0494f73 100644
--- a/src/api-impl-jni/util.c
+++ b/src/api-impl-jni/util.c
@@ -115,7 +115,6 @@ void set_up_handle_cache(JNIEnv *env)
 		(*env)->ExceptionDescribe(env);
 
 	handle_cache.application.class = _REF((*env)->FindClass(env, "android/app/Application"));
-	handle_cache.application.object = _REF(_GET_STATIC_OBJ_FIELD(handle_cache.context.class, "this_application", "Landroid/app/Application;"));
 	handle_cache.application.get_app_icon_path = _METHOD(handle_cache.application.class, "get_app_icon_path", "()Ljava/lang/String;");
 
 }
diff --git a/src/api-impl-jni/util.h b/src/api-impl-jni/util.h
index 8ea57b38..d2a39948 100644
--- a/src/api-impl-jni/util.h
+++ b/src/api-impl-jni/util.h
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@ struct handle_cache {
 	} context;
 	struct {
 		jclass class;
-		jobject object;
 		jmethodID get_app_icon_path;
 	} application;
 };
diff --git a/src/api-impl/android/content/Context.java b/src/api-impl/android/content/Context.java
index b968d6fc..5227ecc1 100644
--- a/src/api-impl/android/content/Context.java
+++ b/src/api-impl/android/content/Context.java
@@ -34,11 +34,15 @@ import android.util.Log;
 import android.view.WindowManager;
 import android.view.WindowManagerImpl;
 import com.reandroid.arsc.chunk.xml.AndroidManifestBlock;
+import com.reandroid.arsc.chunk.xml.ResXmlAttribute;
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 
 public class Context extends Object {
@@ -74,7 +78,6 @@ public class Context extends Object {
 		dm = new DisplayMetrics();
 		config = new Configuration();
 		r = new Resources(assets, dm, config);
-		this_application = new Application(); // TODO: the application context is presumably not identical to the Activity context, what is the difference for us though?
 		theme = r.newTheme();
 		application_info = new ApplicationInfo();
 
@@ -86,6 +89,20 @@ public class Context extends Object {
 		}
 	}
 
+	static Application createApplication() throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException, NoSuchMethodException, SecurityException, ClassNotFoundException {
+		Application application;
+		ResXmlAttribute application_name = manifest.getApplicationElement().searchAttributeByResourceId(AndroidManifestBlock.ID_name);
+		String className = (application_name != null) ? application_name.getValueAsString() : "android.app.Application";
+		if (className.startsWith(".")) {
+			className = manifest.getPackageName() + className;
+		}
+		Class<? extends Application> cls = Class.forName(className).asSubclass(Application.class);
+		Constructor<? extends Application> constructor = cls.getConstructor();
+		application = constructor.newInstance();
+		this_application = application;
+		return application;
+	}
+
 	public Context() {
 		System.out.println("new Context! this one is: " + this);
 	}
diff --git a/src/main-executable/main.c b/src/main-executable/main.c
index b3dbc5ed..bbd80d4c 100644
--- a/src/main-executable/main.c
+++ b/src/main-executable/main.c
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ static void open(GtkApplication *app, GFile** files, gint nfiles, const gchar* h
 	int errno_localdir;
 	int ret;
 	jobject activity_object;
+	jobject application_object;
 
 	char *apk_classpath =  g_file_get_path(files[0]);
 	char *apk_name = g_file_get_basename(files[0]);
@@ -343,12 +344,22 @@ static void open(GtkApplication *app, GFile** files, gint nfiles, const gchar* h
 
 	gtk_window_present(GTK_WINDOW(window));
 
+	// construct Application
+	application_object = (*env)->CallStaticObjectMethod(env, handle_cache.context.class,
+		_STATIC_METHOD(handle_cache.context.class, "createApplication", "()Landroid/app/Application;"));
+	if((*env)->ExceptionCheck(env))
+		(*env)->ExceptionDescribe(env);
+
 	extract_from_apk("assets/", "assets/");
 	/* extract native libraries from apk*/
 	extract_from_apk("lib/" NATIVE_ARCH "/", "lib/");
 
 	prepare_main_looper(env);
 
+	(*env)->CallVoidMethod(env, application_object, _METHOD(handle_cache.application.class, "onCreate", "()V"));
+	if((*env)->ExceptionCheck(env))
+		(*env)->ExceptionDescribe(env);
+
 	// construct main Activity
 	activity_object = (*env)->CallStaticObjectMethod(env, handle_cache.apk_main_activity.class,
 		_STATIC_METHOD(handle_cache.apk_main_activity.class, "createMainActivity", "(Ljava/lang/String;J)Landroid/app/Activity;"),
@@ -363,7 +374,7 @@ static void open(GtkApplication *app, GFile** files, gint nfiles, const gchar* h
 	if((*env)->ExceptionCheck(env))
 		(*env)->ExceptionDescribe(env);
 
-/*	const char *app_icon_path = _CSTRING((*env)->CallObjectMethod(env, handle_cache.application.object, handle_cache.application.get_app_icon_path));
+/*	const char *app_icon_path = _CSTRING((*env)->CallObjectMethod(env, application_object, handle_cache.application.get_app_icon_path));
 	if((*env)->ExceptionCheck(env))
 		(*env)->ExceptionDescribe(env);