diff --git a/mobile/android/base/android-services.mozbuild b/mobile/android/base/android-services.mozbuild
index be0db17fa60..10cb225d962 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/android-services.mozbuild
+++ b/mobile/android/base/android-services.mozbuild
@@ -833,6 +833,7 @@ sync_java_files = [
     'background/nativecode/NativeCrypto.java',
     'background/preferences/PreferenceFragment.java',
     'background/preferences/PreferenceManagerCompat.java',
+    'background/ReadingListConstants.java',
     'browserid/ASNUtils.java',
     'browserid/BrowserIDKeyPair.java',
     'browserid/DSACryptoImplementation.java',
@@ -1170,7 +1171,6 @@ reading_list_service_java_files = [
     'reading/ReadingListClient.java',
     'reading/ReadingListClientContentValuesFactory.java',
     'reading/ReadingListClientRecordFactory.java',
-    'reading/ReadingListConstants.java',
     'reading/ReadingListDeleteDelegate.java',
     'reading/ReadingListInvalidAuthenticationException.java',
     'reading/ReadingListRecord.java',
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListConstants.java b/mobile/android/base/background/ReadingListConstants.java
similarity index 83%
rename from mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListConstants.java
rename to mobile/android/base/background/ReadingListConstants.java
index b12dbaa97c4..37d9a564e7b 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListConstants.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/background/ReadingListConstants.java
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
  * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
  * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */
 
-package org.mozilla.gecko.reading;
+package org.mozilla.gecko.background;
 
 import org.mozilla.gecko.AppConstants;
 
+/**
+ * This is in 'background' not 'reading' so that it's still usable even when the
+ * Reading List feature is build-time disabled.
+ */
 public class ReadingListConstants {
   public static final String GLOBAL_LOG_TAG = "FxReadingList";
   public static final String USER_AGENT = "Firefox-Android-FxReader/" + AppConstants.MOZ_APP_VERSION + " (" + AppConstants.MOZ_APP_DISPLAYNAME + ")";
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/fxa/activities/FxAccountStatusFragment.java b/mobile/android/base/fxa/activities/FxAccountStatusFragment.java
index 6f4d4bc71f4..5eab463fde8 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/fxa/activities/FxAccountStatusFragment.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/fxa/activities/FxAccountStatusFragment.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.mozilla.gecko.AppConstants;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.R;
+import org.mozilla.gecko.background.ReadingListConstants;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.common.log.Logger;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.fxa.FxAccountUtils;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.preferences.PreferenceFragment;
@@ -24,7 +25,6 @@ import org.mozilla.gecko.fxa.login.Married;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.fxa.login.State;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.fxa.sync.FxAccountSyncStatusHelper;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.fxa.tasks.FxAccountCodeResender;
-import org.mozilla.gecko.reading.ReadingListConstants;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.sync.ExtendedJSONObject;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.sync.SharedPreferencesClientsDataDelegate;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.sync.SyncConfiguration;
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListClient.java b/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListClient.java
index 68532177c1f..f43974bb7a2 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListClient.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListClient.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import java.security.GeneralSecurityException;
 import java.util.Queue;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 
+import org.mozilla.gecko.background.ReadingListConstants;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.common.log.Logger;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.reading.ReadingListResponse.ResponseFactory;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.sync.ExtendedJSONObject;
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListSyncAdapter.java b/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListSyncAdapter.java
index 1a815896054..7a8b7047e1c 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListSyncAdapter.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/reading/ReadingListSyncAdapter.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
+import org.mozilla.gecko.background.ReadingListConstants;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.common.PrefsBranch;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.common.log.Logger;
 import org.mozilla.gecko.background.fxa.FxAccountUtils;