diff --git a/src/android/camera_device.cpp b/src/android/camera_device.cpp
index de6f86f7cb9b..52468be70781 100644
--- a/src/android/camera_device.cpp
+++ b/src/android/camera_device.cpp
@@ -459,6 +459,12 @@ int CameraDevice::open(const hw_module_t *hardwareModule)
 	camera3Device_.ops = &hal_dev_ops;
 	camera3Device_.priv = this;
 
+	/*
+	 * Hold a reference to ourselves, to protect against deletion if the
+	 * camera is unplugged before being closed.
+	 */
+	self_ = shared_from_this();
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -468,6 +474,12 @@ void CameraDevice::close()
 	camera_->release();
 
 	running_ = false;
+
+	/*
+	 * Drop our self reference. From this point the CameraDevice may get
+	 * deleted at any time.
+	 */
+	self_.reset();
 }
 
 void CameraDevice::setCallbacks(const camera3_callback_ops_t *callbacks)
diff --git a/src/android/camera_device.h b/src/android/camera_device.h
index 3934f194f1b5..fd991c76b90d 100644
--- a/src/android/camera_device.h
+++ b/src/android/camera_device.h
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ struct CameraStream {
 	Encoder *jpeg;
 };
 
-class CameraDevice : protected libcamera::Loggable
+class CameraDevice : public std::enable_shared_from_this<CameraDevice>,
+		     protected libcamera::Loggable
 {
 public:
 	static std::shared_ptr<CameraDevice> create(unsigned int id,
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ private:
 
 	unsigned int id_;
 	camera3_device_t camera3Device_;
+	std::shared_ptr<CameraDevice> self_;
 
 	bool running_;
 	std::shared_ptr<libcamera::Camera> camera_;