diff --git a/lib/devices/android/android-controller.js b/lib/devices/android/android-controller.js
index 3a9324b4054..7a5942e55e3 100644
--- a/lib/devices/android/android-controller.js
+++ b/lib/devices/android/android-controller.js
@@ -94,13 +94,7 @@ androidController.findElementsFromElement = function (element, strategy, selecto
 };
 
 var _pathFromDomNode = function (node) {
-  var path = "";
-  _.each(node.attributes, function (attrObj) {
-    if (attrObj.name === "index") {
-      path = _pathFromDomNode(node.parentNode) + "/" + attrObj.value;
-    }
-  });
-  return path;
+  return node.getAttribute("class") + ':' + node.getAttribute("instance");
 };
 
 androidController.findUIElementsByXPath = function (selector, many, cb) {
@@ -308,7 +302,7 @@ var _updateSourceXMLNodeNames = function (source) {
   var newSource;
   var origDom = new XMLDom.DOMParser().parseFromString(source);
   var newDom = new XMLDom.DOMImplementation().createDocument(null);
-  _buildClassNodeFromPlainNode(newDom, newDom, origDom);
+  _annotateXmlNodes(newDom, newDom, origDom);
   newSource = new XMLDom.XMLSerializer().serializeToString(newDom);
   return newSource;
 };
@@ -329,19 +323,29 @@ var _copyNodeAttributes = function (oldNode, newNode) {
   });
 };
 
-var _buildClassNodeFromPlainNode = function (newDom, newParent, oldNode) {
+// recursively annotate xml nodes. Update tag name to be Android UIElement class name. Add an "instance" identifier which increments for each class separately.
+var _annotateXmlNodes = function (newDom, newParent, oldNode, instances) {
+  if (!instances) {
+    instances = {};
+  }
   var newNode;
   var nodeClass = _getNodeClass(oldNode);
   if (nodeClass) {
     newNode = newDom.createElement(nodeClass);
     _copyNodeAttributes(oldNode, newNode);
+
+    // we keep track of the number of instances of each className. We use these to create queries on the bootstrap side.
+    if (!instances[nodeClass]) {
+      instances[nodeClass] = 0;
+    }
+    newNode.setAttribute('instance', instances[nodeClass]++);
   } else {
     newNode = oldNode.cloneNode(false);
   }
   newParent.appendChild(newNode);
   if (oldNode.hasChildNodes()) {
     _.each(oldNode.childNodes, function (childNode) {
-      _buildClassNodeFromPlainNode(newDom, newNode, childNode);
+      _annotateXmlNodes(newDom, newNode, childNode, instances);
     });
   }
 };
diff --git a/lib/devices/android/bootstrap/src/io/appium/android/bootstrap/handler/Find.java b/lib/devices/android/bootstrap/src/io/appium/android/bootstrap/handler/Find.java
index ed8b36c5409..e17a3665d0f 100644
--- a/lib/devices/android/bootstrap/src/io/appium/android/bootstrap/handler/Find.java
+++ b/lib/devices/android/bootstrap/src/io/appium/android/bootstrap/handler/Find.java
@@ -279,20 +279,16 @@ private JSONObject fetchElement(final UiSelector sel, final String contextId)
    * @throws ElementNotFoundException
    * @throws JSONException
    */
-  private JSONObject fetchElementByIndexPath(final String indexPath)
+  private JSONObject fetchElementByClassAndInstance(final String indexPath)
       throws ElementNotFoundException, JSONException {
-    UiSelector sel = new UiSelector().index(0);
-    Integer curIndex;
-    List<String> paths = Arrays.asList(indexPath.split("/"));
-    // throw away the first element since it will be empty, and the second
-    // element, since it will refer to the root element, which we already have
-    paths = paths.subList(2, paths.size());
-    for (final String index : paths) {
-      curIndex = Integer.valueOf(index);
-      // get a new selector which selects the current selector's child at the
-      // correct index
-      sel = sel.childSelector(new UiSelector().index(curIndex));
-    }
+
+    // path looks like "className:instanceNumber" eg: "android.widget.Button:2"
+    String[] classInstancePair = indexPath.split(":");
+    String androidClass = classInstancePair[0];
+    String instance = classInstancePair[1];
+
+    UiSelector sel = new UiSelector().className(androidClass).instance(Integer.parseInt(instance));
+
     return fetchElement(sel, "");
   }
 
@@ -342,7 +338,7 @@ private AndroidCommandResult findElementsByIndexPaths(final String selector,
     JSONObject resEl = new JSONObject();
     for (final String indexPath : indexPaths) {
       try {
-        resEl = fetchElementByIndexPath(indexPath);
+        resEl = fetchElementByClassAndInstance(indexPath);
         resArray.put(resEl);
       } catch (final JSONException e) {
         return new AndroidCommandResult(WDStatus.UNKNOWN_ERROR, e.getMessage());