diff --git a/core/java/android/app/ActivityThread.java b/core/java/android/app/ActivityThread.java
index 0c64c86daf3ee..8210baf40983d 100644
--- a/core/java/android/app/ActivityThread.java
+++ b/core/java/android/app/ActivityThread.java
@@ -6370,7 +6370,13 @@ public final class ActivityThread extends ClientTransactionHandler
             final File cacheDir = context.getCacheDir();
             if (cacheDir != null) {
                 // Provide a usable directory for temporary files
-                System.setProperty("java.io.tmpdir", cacheDir.getAbsolutePath());
+                String tmpdir = cacheDir.getAbsolutePath();
+                System.setProperty("java.io.tmpdir", tmpdir);
+                try {
+                    android.system.Os.setenv("TMPDIR", tmpdir, true);
+                } catch (ErrnoException ex) {
+                    Log.w(TAG, "Unable to initialize $TMPDIR", ex);
+                }
             } else {
                 Log.v(TAG, "Unable to initialize \"java.io.tmpdir\" property "
                         + "due to missing cache directory");
diff --git a/core/tests/coretests/src/android/app/activity/ActivityThreadTest.java b/core/tests/coretests/src/android/app/activity/ActivityThreadTest.java
index fb820cb2f5e53..49e7966b0bb36 100644
--- a/core/tests/coretests/src/android/app/activity/ActivityThreadTest.java
+++ b/core/tests/coretests/src/android/app/activity/ActivityThreadTest.java
@@ -107,6 +107,11 @@ public class ActivityThreadTest {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testTemporaryDirectory() throws Exception {
+        assertEquals(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), System.getenv("TMPDIR"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testDoubleRelaunch() throws Exception {
         final Activity activity = mActivityTestRule.launchActivity(new Intent());