diff --git a/build-android-with-native.py b/build-android-with-native.py
index 08e9376f4..f7ec18570 100755
--- a/build-android-with-native.py
+++ b/build-android-with-native.py
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ if COMPILE_LIBICU:
     if (not os.path.exists(ICU_TMP_TARGET)):
         os.mkdir(ICU_TMP_TARGET);
     os.chdir(ICU_TMP_HOST)
-    syscall(LIBICU_SRC + '/configure', shell=True)
+    syscall(LIBICU_SRC + '/configure --with-data-packaging=archive', shell=True)
     syscall('make', shell=True)
     os.chdir(os.getcwd())
 
@@ -302,6 +302,12 @@ for arch in ARCHS:
         syscall('ln -sf %(src)s %(dest)s/' 
                 % {'src': ln_src, 'dest': dest})
 
+        # add a link to icudt49l.dat
+        ln_src = LIBICU_SRC + '/data/in/icudt49l.dat'
+        dest = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(CURRENT_PATH), 'android', 'assets')
+        syscall('ln -sf %(src)s %(dest)s/' 
+                % {'src': ln_src, 'dest': dest})
+
     # check that the step went well
     if CREATE_TOOLCHAIN or COMPILE_LIBLZMA or COMPILE_LIBZIM or \
        COMPILE_LIBKIWIX or STRIP_LIBKIWIX:
@@ -356,7 +362,7 @@ for arch in ARCHS:
     # compile libicu.a, libicu.so
     os.chdir(ICU_TMP_TARGET)
     configure_cmd = ( LIBICU_SRC + '/configure --host=%(arch)s --enable-static '
-                     '--prefix=%(platform)s --with-cross-build=%(icu)s  --disable-shared --enable-static '
+                     '--prefix=%(platform)s --with-cross-build=%(icu)s  --disable-shared --with-data-packaging=archive '
                      % {'arch': arch_full, 'platform': platform, 'icu': ICU_TMP_HOST})
 
     if COMPILE_LIBICU:
diff --git a/kiwix.c b/kiwix.c
index 5d04d0846..b7b654a13 100644
--- a/kiwix.c
+++ b/kiwix.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <string>
 
+#include "unicode/putil.h"
 #include <kiwix/reader.h>
 
 /* global variables */
@@ -274,3 +275,15 @@ JNIEXPORT jboolean JNICALL Java_org_kiwix_kiwixmobile_JNIKiwix_getRandomPage
   return retVal;
 }
 
+JNIEXPORT void JNICALL Java_org_kiwix_kiwixmobile_JNIKiwix_setDataDirectory
+  (JNIEnv *env, jobject obj, jstring dirStr) {
+  std::string cPath = jni2c(dirStr, env);
+
+  pthread_mutex_lock(&readerLock); 
+  try {
+    u_setDataDirectory(cPath.c_str());
+  } catch (exception &e) {
+    std::cerr << e.what() << std::endl;
+  }
+  pthread_mutex_unlock(&readerLock);
+}
diff --git a/libs/armeabi/libkiwix.so b/libs/armeabi/libkiwix.so
index 04c90b854..dea991044 100755
Binary files a/libs/armeabi/libkiwix.so and b/libs/armeabi/libkiwix.so differ
diff --git a/libs/mips/libkiwix.so b/libs/mips/libkiwix.so
index f798254f1..467abf02b 100755
Binary files a/libs/mips/libkiwix.so and b/libs/mips/libkiwix.so differ
diff --git a/libs/x86/libkiwix.so b/libs/x86/libkiwix.so
index 0eab8c32a..a6ae8b257 100755
Binary files a/libs/x86/libkiwix.so and b/libs/x86/libkiwix.so differ
diff --git a/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/JNIKiwix.java b/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/JNIKiwix.java
index 56d49c31a..9e9d1d532 100644
--- a/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/JNIKiwix.java
+++ b/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/JNIKiwix.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ public class JNIKiwix {
     public native boolean getArticleCount(JNIKiwixInt count);
     public native boolean getMediaCount(JNIKiwixInt count);
     public native boolean getRandomPage(JNIKiwixString url);
+    public native void setDataDirectory(String icuDataDir);
 
     static {
         System.loadLibrary("kiwix");
diff --git a/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/ZimContentProvider.java b/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/ZimContentProvider.java
index e6f930f67..f69edbcd0 100644
--- a/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/ZimContentProvider.java
+++ b/src/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/ZimContentProvider.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package org.kiwix.kiwixmobile;
 
 import android.content.ContentProvider;
 import android.content.ContentValues;
+import android.content.Context;
 import android.database.Cursor;
 import android.net.Uri;
 import android.os.ParcelFileDescriptor;
@@ -28,8 +29,11 @@ import android.os.ParcelFileDescriptor.AutoCloseOutputStream;
 import android.util.Log;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.File;  
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;   
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream; 
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 
 public class ZimContentProvider extends ContentProvider {
@@ -135,7 +139,7 @@ public class ZimContentProvider extends ContentProvider {
     @Override
     public boolean onCreate() {
         jniKiwix = new JNIKiwix();
-
+	setIcuDataDirectory();
         return (true);
     }
 
@@ -261,4 +265,41 @@ public class ZimContentProvider extends ContentProvider {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    private void setIcuDataDirectory() {
+        File workingDir = this.getContext().getFilesDir();
+        String icuDirPath = loadICUData(this.getContext(), workingDir);
+
+        if(icuDirPath != null) {
+            Log.d("kiwix", "Setting the ICU directory path to " + icuDirPath);
+            jniKiwix.setDataDirectory(icuDirPath);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static String loadICUData(Context context, File workingDir) {
+        String icuFileName = "icudt49l.dat";
+        try {
+            File icuDir = new File(workingDir, "icu");
+            if(!icuDir.exists()) icuDir.mkdirs();
+            File icuDataFile = new File(icuDir, icuFileName);
+            if(!icuDataFile.exists()) {
+                InputStream in = context.getAssets().open(icuFileName);
+                OutputStream out =  new FileOutputStream(icuDataFile);
+                byte[] buf = new byte[1024];
+                int len;
+                while ((len = in.read(buf)) > 0) {
+                    out.write(buf, 0, len);
+                }
+                in.close();
+                out.flush();
+                out.close();
+            }
+            return icuDir.getAbsolutePath();
+        }
+        catch (Exception e) {
+            Log.e("kiwix", "Error copying icu data file", e);
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file