diff --git a/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryStart.java b/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryStart.java
index 4f792521ac..5151db7369 100644
--- a/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryStart.java
+++ b/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryStart.java
@@ -362,6 +362,19 @@ static void updateWithReactDefaults(
    * applied after the configureOptions callback during manual native initialization.
    */
   static void updateWithReactFinals(@NotNull SentryAndroidOptions options) {
+    if (!BuildConfig.VERSION_NAME.equals(RNSentryVersion.EXPECTED_ANDROID_SDK_VERSION)) {
+      options
+          .getLogger()
+          .log(
+              SentryLevel.WARNING,
+              "sentry-android resolved to %s, but @sentry/react-native expects %s. "
+                  + "This may cause crashes at startup. "
+                  + "If you use the Sentry Android Gradle Plugin, disable autoInstallation: "
+                  + "https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/react-native/manual-setup/manual-setup/",
+              BuildConfig.VERSION_NAME,
+              RNSentryVersion.EXPECTED_ANDROID_SDK_VERSION);
+    }
+
     BeforeSendCallback userBeforeSend = options.getBeforeSend();
     options.setBeforeSend(
         (event, hint) -> {
diff --git a/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryVersion.java b/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryVersion.java
index 64f76ccc08..d82ec157d3 100644
--- a/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryVersion.java
+++ b/packages/core/android/src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryVersion.java
@@ -6,4 +6,5 @@ class RNSentryVersion {
   static final String NATIVE_SDK_NAME = "sentry.native.android.react-native";
   static final String ANDROID_SDK_NAME = "sentry.java.android.react-native";
   static final String REACT_NATIVE_SDK_NAME = "sentry.javascript.react-native";
+  static final String EXPECTED_ANDROID_SDK_VERSION = "8.41.0";
 }
diff --git a/scripts/update-android.sh b/scripts/update-android.sh
index efbd17d43f..aa2f27e3e6 100755
--- a/scripts/update-android.sh
+++ b/scripts/update-android.sh
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ set-version)
     expoHandlerContent=$(echo "$expoHandlerContent" | sed -E "s/(io\.sentry:sentry-android:)([0-9\.]+)/\1$2/g")
     echo "$expoHandlerContent" >$expoHandlerFile
 
+    # Update expected version constant in RNSentryVersion.java
+    versionFile='src/main/java/io/sentry/react/RNSentryVersion.java'
+    versionContent=$(cat $versionFile)
+    versionContent=$(echo "$versionContent" | sed -E "s/(EXPECTED_ANDROID_SDK_VERSION = \")([0-9\.]+)/\1$2/")
+    echo "$versionContent" >$versionFile
+
     # Update replay-stubs to match
     cd $ORIGINAL_DIR
     ./update-android-stubs.sh set-version $2