diff --git a/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/DBManager.java b/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/DBManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e395ccf75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/DBManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package org.grammaticalframework.ui.android;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
+import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException;
+import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+
+public class DBManager extends SQLiteOpenHelper {
+    private final Context mContext;
+
+    public DBManager(Context context) {
+        super(context, "defs.db", null, 1);
+        mContext = context;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized SQLiteDatabase getReadableDatabase() {
+		copyDatabaseFromAssets();
+        return super.getReadableDatabase();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized SQLiteDatabase getWritableDatabase() {
+        copyDatabaseFromAssets();
+        return super.getWritableDatabase();
+    }
+
+    private void copyDatabaseFromAssets() throws SQLiteException {
+		String path = mContext.getDatabasePath(getDatabaseName()).getPath();
+
+		File file = new File(path);
+		if (file.exists()) {
+			return;
+		}
+
+		InputStream ins = null;
+		OutputStream outs = null;
+
+        try {
+			File dir = new File(mContext.getApplicationInfo().dataDir + "/databases");
+			if (!dir.exists()) {
+				dir.mkdir();
+			}
+
+			ins = mContext.getAssets().open(getDatabaseName());
+			outs = new FileOutputStream(path);
+
+			byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
+			int length;
+			while ((length = ins.read(buffer)) > 0) {
+				outs.write(buffer, 0, length);
+			}
+			outs.flush();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            SQLiteException se = new SQLiteException("Unable to write " + path + " to data directory");
+            se.setStackTrace(e.getStackTrace());
+
+            if (outs != null) {
+				try {
+					outs.close();
+				} catch (IOException e2) {
+				}
+				outs = null;
+			}
+
+            file.delete();
+            throw se;
+        } finally {
+			try {
+				if (outs != null)
+					outs.close();
+				if (ins != null)
+					ins.close();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+			}
+		}
+    }
+
+	@Override
+	public final void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
+    }
+
+	@Override
+	public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
+	}
+}