diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 115fa9766..3d401a191 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ ANDROID_LAUNCHER_DIR:=$(ANDROID_DIR)/luajit-launcher
 WIN32_DIR=$(PLATFORM_DIR)/win32
 
 # files to link from main directory
-INSTALL_FILES=reader.lua frontend resources defaults.lua l10n \
+INSTALL_FILES=reader.lua frontend resources defaults.lua datastorage.lua l10n \
 		git-rev README.md COPYING
 
 # for gettext
diff --git a/datastorage.lua b/datastorage.lua
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8cf2bd24a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datastorage.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+-- need low-level mechnism to detect android to avoid recursive dependency
+local isAndroid = pcall(require, "android")
+
+local DataStorage = {}
+
+function DataStorage:getDataDir()
+    if isAndroid then
+        return "/sdcard/koreader/"
+    else
+        return "./"
+    end
+end
+
+return DataStorage
diff --git a/frontend/apps/filemanager/filemanagersetdefaults.lua b/frontend/apps/filemanager/filemanagersetdefaults.lua
index 4979a00b9..e31036101 100644
--- a/frontend/apps/filemanager/filemanagersetdefaults.lua
+++ b/frontend/apps/filemanager/filemanagersetdefaults.lua
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 local InfoMessage = require("ui/widget/infomessage")
-local UIManager = require("ui/uimanager")
 local InputContainer = require("ui/widget/container/inputcontainer")
 local InputDialog = require("ui/widget/inputdialog")
 local MultiInputDialog = require("ui/widget/multiinputdialog")
 local ConfirmBox = require("ui/widget/confirmbox")
 local CenterContainer = require("ui/widget/container/centercontainer")
+local DataStorage = require("datastorage")
+local UIManager = require("ui/uimanager")
 local Screen = require("device").screen
 local Menu = require("ui/widget/menu")
 local Font = require("ui/font")
@@ -319,16 +320,16 @@ function SetDefaults:SaveSettings()
         file:close()
     end
 
-    local filename = "defaults.persistent.lua"
+    local persistent_filename = DataStorage:getDataDir() .. "/defaults.persistent.lua"
     local file
-    if io.open(filename,"r") == nil then
-        file = io.open(filename, "w")
+    if io.open(persistent_filename,"r") == nil then
+        file = io.open(persistent_filename, "w")
         file:write("-- For configuration changes that persists between (nightly) releases\n")
         file:close()
     end
 
     local dpl = {}
-    fileread("defaults.persistent.lua",dpl)
+    fileread(persistent_filename, dpl)
     local dl = {}
     fileread("defaults.lua",dl)
     self.results = {}
@@ -355,12 +356,16 @@ function SetDefaults:SaveSettings()
         end
     end
 
-    file = io.open("defaults.persistent.lua", "w")
-    for i = 1,#dpl do
-        file:write(dpl[i] .. "\n")
+    file = io.open(persistent_filename, "w")
+    if file then
+        for i = 1,#dpl do
+            file:write(dpl[i] .. "\n")
+        end
+        file:close()
+        UIManager:show(InfoMessage:new{
+            text = _("Default settings were saved successfully!"),
+        })
     end
-    file:close()
-    UIManager:show(InfoMessage:new{text = _("Default settings were saved successfully!")})
     settings_changed = false
 end
 return SetDefaults
diff --git a/frontend/docsettings.lua b/frontend/docsettings.lua
index 4005a4db5..2b167a8a8 100644
--- a/frontend/docsettings.lua
+++ b/frontend/docsettings.lua
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 local lfs = require("libs/libkoreader-lfs")
 local DocSettings = {}
 local dump = require("dump")
+local DataStorage = require("datastorage")
 
 function DocSettings:getHistoryPath(fullpath)
     return "./history/[" .. fullpath:gsub("(.*/)([^/]+)","%1] %2"):gsub("/","#") .. ".lua"
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ function DocSettings:open(docfile)
     local sidecar_path = nil
     if docfile == ".reader" then
         -- we handle reader setting as special case
-        history_path = "settings.reader.lua"
+        history_path = DataStorage:getDataDir() .. "/settings.reader.lua"
     else
         if lfs.attributes("./history", "mode") ~= "directory" then
             lfs.mkdir("history")
diff --git a/frontend/document/koptinterface.lua b/frontend/document/koptinterface.lua
index c6f1ba0b7..316d08e4d 100644
--- a/frontend/document/koptinterface.lua
+++ b/frontend/document/koptinterface.lua
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 local TileCacheItem = require("document/tilecacheitem")
 local KOPTContext = require("ffi/koptcontext")
 local Document = require("document/document")
+local DataStorage = require("datastorage")
 local CacheItem = require("cacheitem")
 local Screen = require("device").screen
 local Geom = require("ui/geometry")
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@ local util = require("ffi/util")
 
 local KoptInterface = {
     ocrengine = "ocrengine",
-    tessocr_data = "data",
+    tessocr_data = DataStorage:getDataDir() .. "/data",
     ocr_lang = "eng",
     ocr_type = 3, -- default 0, for more accuracy use 3
     last_context_size = nil,
diff --git a/platform/android/llapp_main.lua b/platform/android/llapp_main.lua
index 03297cf8a..3eab5d099 100644
--- a/platform/android/llapp_main.lua
+++ b/platform/android/llapp_main.lua
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 local A = require("android")
 A.dl.library_path = A.dl.library_path .. ":" .. A.dir .. "/libs"
 
+local ffi = require("ffi")
+ffi.cdef[[
+    char *getenv(const char *name);
+    int putenv(const char *envvar);
+]]
+
 -- check uri of the intent that starts this application
 local file = A.jni:context(A.app.activity.vm, function(JNI)
     local uri = JNI:callObjectMethod(
@@ -29,6 +35,9 @@ pcall(function() dofile("/sdcard/koreader/patch.lua") end)
 -- set proper permission for sdcv
 A.execute("chmod", "755", "./sdcv")
 
+-- set TESSDATA_PREFIX env var
+ffi.C.putenv("TESSDATA_PREFIX=/sdcard/koreader/data")
+
 -- create fake command-line arguments
 arg = {"-d", file or "/sdcard"}
 dofile(A.dir.."/reader.lua")
diff --git a/reader.lua b/reader.lua
index 326f4dae0..c4a990c0f 100755
--- a/reader.lua
+++ b/reader.lua
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 -- load default settings
 require "defaults"
-pcall(dofile, "defaults.persistent.lua")
+local DataStorage = require("datastorage")
+pcall(dofile, DataStorage:getDataDir() .. "/defaults.persistent.lua")
 
 -- set search path for 'require()'
 package.path = "common/?.lua;rocks/share/lua/5.1/?.lua;frontend/?.lua;" .. package.path