diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c48d4551e1..82d61072c3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- Add support for setting sentry-native handler_strategy ([#3671](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3671))
+
+### Dependencies
+
+- Bump Native SDK from v0.7.8 to v0.7.16 ([#3671](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3671))
+  - [changelog](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-native/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#0716)
+  - [diff](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-native/compare/0.7.8...0.7.16)
+
 ## 7.18.1
 
 ### Fixes
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api b/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api
index f525e056f6..0215008608 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api
+++ b/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api
@@ -220,6 +220,14 @@ public final class io/sentry/android/core/LoadClass {
 	public fun loadClass (Ljava/lang/String;Lio/sentry/ILogger;)Ljava/lang/Class;
 }
 
+public final class io/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy : java/lang/Enum {
+	public static final field SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_CHAIN_AT_START Lio/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy;
+	public static final field SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_DEFAULT Lio/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy;
+	public fun getValue ()I
+	public static fun valueOf (Ljava/lang/String;)Lio/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy;
+	public static fun values ()[Lio/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy;
+}
+
 public final class io/sentry/android/core/NdkIntegration : io/sentry/Integration, java/io/Closeable {
 	public static final field SENTRY_NDK_CLASS_NAME Ljava/lang/String;
 	public fun <init> (Ljava/lang/Class;)V
@@ -266,6 +274,7 @@ public final class io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions : io/sentry/Sentr
 	public fun getDebugImagesLoader ()Lio/sentry/android/core/IDebugImagesLoader;
 	public fun getFrameMetricsCollector ()Lio/sentry/android/core/internal/util/SentryFrameMetricsCollector;
 	public fun getNativeSdkName ()Ljava/lang/String;
+	public fun getNdkHandlerStrategy ()I
 	public fun getProfilingTracesIntervalMillis ()I
 	public fun getStartupCrashDurationThresholdMillis ()J
 	public fun isAnrEnabled ()Z
@@ -310,6 +319,7 @@ public final class io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions : io/sentry/Sentr
 	public fun setEnableScopeSync (Z)V
 	public fun setEnableSystemEventBreadcrumbs (Z)V
 	public fun setFrameMetricsCollector (Lio/sentry/android/core/internal/util/SentryFrameMetricsCollector;)V
+	public fun setNativeHandlerStrategy (Lio/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy;)V
 	public fun setNativeSdkName (Ljava/lang/String;)V
 	public fun setProfilingTracesIntervalMillis (I)V
 	public fun setReportHistoricalAnrs (Z)V
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy.java b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..74b446658d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/NdkHandlerStrategy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package io.sentry.android.core;
+
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus;
+
+@ApiStatus.Internal
+public enum NdkHandlerStrategy {
+  SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_DEFAULT(0),
+  SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_CHAIN_AT_START(1);
+
+  private final int value;
+
+  NdkHandlerStrategy(final int value) {
+    this.value = value;
+  }
+
+  public int getValue() {
+    return value;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions.java b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions.java
index 449834574a..6ac168fd8f 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions.java
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions.java
@@ -157,6 +157,9 @@ public final class SentryAndroidOptions extends SentryOptions {
   /** Turns NDK on or off. Default is enabled. */
   private boolean enableNdk = true;
 
+  @NotNull
+  private NdkHandlerStrategy ndkHandlerStrategy =
+      NdkHandlerStrategy.SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_DEFAULT;
   /**
    * Enable the Java to NDK Scope sync. The default value for sentry-java is disabled and enabled
    * for sentry-android.
@@ -472,6 +475,16 @@ public void setNativeSdkName(final @Nullable String nativeSdkName) {
     this.nativeSdkName = nativeSdkName;
   }
 
+  @ApiStatus.Internal
+  public void setNativeHandlerStrategy(final @NotNull NdkHandlerStrategy ndkHandlerStrategy) {
+    this.ndkHandlerStrategy = ndkHandlerStrategy;
+  }
+
+  @ApiStatus.Internal
+  public int getNdkHandlerStrategy() {
+    return ndkHandlerStrategy.getValue();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Returns the sdk name for the sentry native ndk module.
    *
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptionsTest.kt b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptionsTest.kt
index 5ed5de1c04..aa266d5c7a 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptionsTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptionsTest.kt
@@ -167,6 +167,19 @@ class SentryAndroidOptionsTest {
         assertTrue(SentryAndroidOptions().isEnableScopeSync)
     }
 
+    @Test
+    fun `ndk handler option defaults to default strategy`() {
+        val sentryOptions = SentryAndroidOptions()
+        assertEquals(NdkHandlerStrategy.SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_DEFAULT.value, sentryOptions.ndkHandlerStrategy)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `ndk handler strategy option can be changed`() {
+        val sentryOptions = SentryAndroidOptions()
+        sentryOptions.setNativeHandlerStrategy(NdkHandlerStrategy.SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_CHAIN_AT_START)
+        assertEquals(NdkHandlerStrategy.SENTRY_HANDLER_STRATEGY_CHAIN_AT_START.value, sentryOptions.ndkHandlerStrategy)
+    }
+
     private class CustomDebugImagesLoader : IDebugImagesLoader {
         override fun loadDebugImages(): List<DebugImage>? = null
         override fun clearDebugImages() {}
diff --git a/sentry-android-ndk/sentry-native b/sentry-android-ndk/sentry-native
index f44ab0be7c..39445fe251 160000
--- a/sentry-android-ndk/sentry-native
+++ b/sentry-android-ndk/sentry-native
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit f44ab0be7c9d46bbaf24536fb15e7d55b98d6716
+Subproject commit 39445fe2512a83e6e8f8e031a64e0c5d90457263
diff --git a/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/jni/sentry.c b/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/jni/sentry.c
index d62ef56123..b92e849523 100644
--- a/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/jni/sentry.c
+++ b/sentry-android-ndk/src/main/jni/sentry.c
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@ Java_io_sentry_android_ndk_SentryNdk_initSentryNative(
     jmethodID native_sdk_name_mid = (*env)->GetMethodID(env, options_cls, "getNativeSdkName",
                                                     "()Ljava/lang/String;");
 
+    jmethodID handler_strategy_mid = (*env)->GetMethodID(env, options_cls, "getNdkHandlerStrategy", "()I");
+
     (*env)->DeleteLocalRef(env, options_cls);
 
     char *outbox_path = NULL;
@@ -337,6 +339,9 @@ Java_io_sentry_android_ndk_SentryNdk_initSentryNative(
         sentry_free(native_sdk_name_str);
     }
 
+    jint handler_strategy = (jint) (*env)->CallIntMethod(env, sentry_sdk_options, handler_strategy_mid);
+    sentry_options_set_handler_strategy(options, handler_strategy);
+
     sentry_init(options);
     return;