diff --git a/src/corelib/platform/android/qandroidnativeinterface.cpp b/src/corelib/platform/android/qandroidnativeinterface.cpp
index fb6044c1bb4..7e79f112f2d 100644
--- a/src/corelib/platform/android/qandroidnativeinterface.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/platform/android/qandroidnativeinterface.cpp
@@ -176,6 +176,14 @@ QFuture<QVariant> QNativeInterface::QAndroidApplication::runOnAndroidMainThread(
                 loop.quit();
             });
             watcher.setFuture(future);
+
+            // we're going to sleep, make sure we don't block
+            // QThreadPool::globalInstance():
+
+            QThreadPool::globalInstance()->releaseThread();
+            const auto sg = qScopeGuard([] {
+               QThreadPool::globalInstance()->reserveThread();
+            });
             loop.exec();
         });
     }