diff --git a/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
index a470d3aac52b34..49b5084ad9c9bf 100644
--- a/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
     package="com.helloworld"
     android:versionCode="1"
     android:versionName="1.0">
@@ -6,6 +7,12 @@
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW"/>
 
+    <!-- These permissions are added implicitly by android-jsc, see https://github.com/facebook/android-jsc/pull/12 -->
+    <!-- The following lines can be removed after android-jsc is updated in react-native -->
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" tools:node="remove" />
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" tools:node="remove" />
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" tools:node="remove"/>
+
     <uses-sdk
         android:minSdkVersion="16"
         android:targetSdkVersion="22" />
diff --git a/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/release/AndroidManifest.xml b/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/release/AndroidManifest.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3c83ecd407e171
--- /dev/null
+++ b/local-cli/templates/HelloWorld/android/app/src/release/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<manifest
+    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
+    >
+
+    <!-- These are added by React Native for debug mode, but aren't needed in release mode -->
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" tools:node="remove" />
+</manifest>