diff --git a/api/current.txt b/api/current.txt
index 3acd26d2fc64e..8c04009bd3631 100644
--- a/api/current.txt
+++ b/api/current.txt
@@ -35963,6 +35963,7 @@ package android.provider {
     field public static final java.lang.String DATE = "date";
     field public static final java.lang.String DELETED = "deleted";
     field public static final java.lang.String DIRTY = "dirty";
+    field public static final int DIRTY_RETAIN = -1; // 0xffffffff
     field public static final java.lang.String DIR_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/voicemails";
     field public static final java.lang.String DURATION = "duration";
     field public static final java.lang.String HAS_CONTENT = "has_content";
diff --git a/core/java/android/provider/VoicemailContract.java b/core/java/android/provider/VoicemailContract.java
index 864a0fd7d7c56..6be0e76c552b9 100644
--- a/core/java/android/provider/VoicemailContract.java
+++ b/core/java/android/provider/VoicemailContract.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
 package android.provider;
 
-import android.Manifest;
 import android.annotation.SdkConstant;
 import android.annotation.SdkConstant.SdkConstantType;
 import android.content.ComponentName;
@@ -50,7 +49,7 @@ import java.util.List;
  * </ul>
  *
  * <P> The minimum permission needed to access this content provider is
- * {@link Manifest.permission#ADD_VOICEMAIL}
+ * {@link android.Manifest.permission#ADD_VOICEMAIL}
  *
  * <P>Voicemails are inserted by what is called as a "voicemail source"
  * application, which is responsible for syncing voicemail data between a remote
@@ -293,10 +292,25 @@ public class VoicemailContract {
          * Flag used to indicate that local, unsynced changes are present.
          * Currently, this is used to indicate that the voicemail was read or deleted.
          * The value will be 1 if dirty is true, 0 if false.
+         *
+         * <p>When a caller updates a voicemail row (either with {@link ContentResolver#update} or
+         * {@link ContentResolver#applyBatch}), and if the {@link ContentValues} doesn't contain
+         * this column, the voicemail provider implicitly sets it to 0 if the calling package is
+         * the {@link #SOURCE_PACKAGE} or to 1 otherwise. To prevent this behavior, explicitly set
+         * {@link #DIRTY_RETAIN} to this column in the {@link ContentValues}.
+         *
          * <P>Type: INTEGER (boolean)</P>
+         *
+         * @see #DIRTY_RETAIN
          */
         public static final String DIRTY = "dirty";
 
+        /**
+         * Value of {@link #DIRTY} when updating to indicate that the value should not be updated
+         * during this operation.
+         */
+        public static final int DIRTY_RETAIN = -1;
+
         /**
          * Flag used to indicate that the voicemail was deleted but not synced to the server.
          * A deleted row should be ignored.