diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 0e5e13b56..f6558112e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -302,6 +302,7 @@ AC_CHECK_FUNCS( futimes )
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS( wcslcpy lrand48_r killpg )
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS( backtrace_symbols getifaddrs )
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS( futimens clock_gettime )
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS( getpwent )
 
 AC_CHECK_DECL( [mkostemp], [ AC_CHECK_FUNCS([mkostemp]) ] )
 
diff --git a/src/complete.cpp b/src/complete.cpp
index 5ecf80eb9..9491c58b8 100644
--- a/src/complete.cpp
+++ b/src/complete.cpp
@@ -1187,6 +1187,13 @@ bool completer_t::try_complete_variable(const wcstring &str) {
 ///
 /// \return 0 if unable to complete, 1 otherwise
 bool completer_t::try_complete_user(const wcstring &str) {
+#ifndef HAVE_GETPWENT
+    // The getpwent() function does not exist on Android. A Linux user on Android isn't
+    // really a user - each installed app gets an UID assigned. Listing all UID:s is not
+    // possible without root access, and doing a ~USER type expansion does not make sense
+    // since every app is sandboxed and can't access eachother.
+    return false;
+#else
     const wchar_t *cmd = str.c_str();
     const wchar_t *first_char = cmd;
     int res = 0;
@@ -1233,6 +1240,7 @@ bool completer_t::try_complete_user(const wcstring &str) {
     }
 
     return res;
+#endif
 }
 
 void complete(const wcstring &cmd_with_subcmds, std::vector<completion_t> *out_comps,