diff --git a/include/cutils/native_handle.h b/include/cutils/native_handle.h
index 813dadc7c..7d6a98802 100644
--- a/include/cutils/native_handle.h
+++ b/include/cutils/native_handle.h
@@ -17,10 +17,17 @@
 #ifndef NATIVE_HANDLE_H_
 #define NATIVE_HANDLE_H_
 
+#include <stdalign.h>
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+/* Declare a char array for use with native_handle_init */
+#define NATIVE_HANDLE_DECLARE_STORAGE(name, maxFds, maxInts) \
+    alignas(native_handle_t) char name[                            \
+      sizeof(native_handle_t) + sizeof(int) * (maxFds + maxInts)]
+
 typedef struct native_handle
 {
     int version;        /* sizeof(native_handle_t) */
@@ -46,6 +53,14 @@ typedef struct native_handle
  */
 int native_handle_close(const native_handle_t* h);
 
+/*
+ * native_handle_init
+ *
+ * Initializes a native_handle_t from storage.  storage must be declared with
+ * NATIVE_HANDLE_DECLARE_STORAGE.  numFds and numInts must not respectively
+ * exceed maxFds and maxInts used to declare the storage.
+ */
+native_handle_t* native_handle_init(char* storage, int numFds, int numInts);
 
 /*
  * native_handle_create
diff --git a/libcutils/native_handle.c b/libcutils/native_handle.c
index cae146d45..9f4840a59 100644
--- a/libcutils/native_handle.c
+++ b/libcutils/native_handle.c
@@ -28,6 +28,20 @@
 static const int kMaxNativeFds = 1024;
 static const int kMaxNativeInts = 1024;
 
+native_handle_t* native_handle_init(char* storage, int numFds, int numInts)
+{
+    if ((uintptr_t) storage % alignof(native_handle_t)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    native_handle_t* handle = (native_handle_t*) storage;
+    handle->version = sizeof(native_handle_t);
+    handle->numFds = numFds;
+    handle->numInts = numInts;
+
+    return handle;
+}
+
 native_handle_t* native_handle_create(int numFds, int numInts)
 {
     if (numFds < 0 || numInts < 0 || numFds > kMaxNativeFds || numInts > kMaxNativeInts) {