diff --git a/packages/SettingsLib/res/values/arrays.xml b/packages/SettingsLib/res/values/arrays.xml
index 3e2b800d5a2cb..3adb882bc1b1a 100644
--- a/packages/SettingsLib/res/values/arrays.xml
+++ b/packages/SettingsLib/res/values/arrays.xml
@@ -643,8 +643,10 @@
          array must also be populated with a content description for each image. -->
     <array name="avatar_images"/>
 
-    <!-- Content descriptions for each of the images in the avatar_images array. -->
-    <string-array name="avatar_image_descriptions"/>
+    <!-- Content descriptions for each of the images in the avatar_images array. When overlaid
+         these values should be translated, but this empty array must not be translated or it may
+         replace the real descriptions with an empty array. -->
+    <string-array name="avatar_image_descriptions" translatable="false"/>
 
     <!-- NOTE: if you change this, you must also add the corresponding scale key and lookup table to
      frameworks/base/core/java/android/content/res/FontScaleConverterFactory.java -->
diff --git a/packages/SettingsLib/src/com/android/settingslib/users/AvatarPickerActivity.java b/packages/SettingsLib/src/com/android/settingslib/users/AvatarPickerActivity.java
index bcbd1caa45d3d..848b177c821f5 100644
--- a/packages/SettingsLib/src/com/android/settingslib/users/AvatarPickerActivity.java
+++ b/packages/SettingsLib/src/com/android/settingslib/users/AvatarPickerActivity.java
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ public class AvatarPickerActivity extends Activity {
                 int index = indexFromPosition(position);
                 viewHolder.setSelected(position == mSelectedPosition);
                 viewHolder.setDrawable(mImageDrawables.get(index));
-                if (mImageDescriptions != null) {
+                if (mImageDescriptions != null && index < mImageDescriptions.size()) {
                     viewHolder.setContentDescription(mImageDescriptions.get(index));
                 } else {
                     viewHolder.setContentDescription(getString(