diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4-bt/AndroidManifest.xml b/xwords4/android/XWords4-bt/AndroidManifest.xml
index d81c75bd0..13800c86d 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4-bt/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4-bt/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />
 
-  <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" android:targetSdkVersion="8" />
+  <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="7" android:targetSdkVersion="7" />
 
   <application android:icon="@drawable/icon48x48"
                android:label="@string/app_name"
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/xwjni.c b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/xwjni.c
index 24a60dd0c..b9e744276 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/xwjni.c
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/xwjni.c
@@ -1547,4 +1547,45 @@ Java_org_eehouse_android_xw4_jni_XwJNI_dict_1iter_1getStartsWith
     return result;
 }
 
+#ifdef XWFEATURE_SMS
+JNIEXPORT jstring JNICALL
+Java_org_eehouse_android_xw4_jni_XwJNI_base64Encode
+( JNIEnv* env, jclass C, jbyteArray jbytes )
+{
+    int inlen = (*env)->GetArrayLength( env, jbytes );
+    jbyte* elems = (*env)->GetByteArrayElements( env, jbytes, NULL );
+    XP_ASSERT( !!elems );
+
+    XP_UCHAR out[4+(inlen*4/3)];
+    XP_U16 outlen = VSIZE( out );
+    binToSms( out, &outlen, (const XP_U8*)elems, inlen );
+
+    (*env)->ReleaseByteArrayElements( env, jbytes, elems, 0 );
+
+    jstring result = (*env)->NewStringUTF( env, out );
+    return result;
+}
+
+JNIEXPORT jbyteArray JNICALL
+Java_org_eehouse_android_xw4_jni_XwJNI_base64Decode
+( JNIEnv* env, jclass C, jstring jstr )
+{
+    jbyteArray result = NULL;
+    const char* instr = (*env)->GetStringUTFChars( env, jstr, NULL );
+    XP_U16 inlen = (*env)->GetStringUTFLength( env, jstr );
+    XP_U8 out[inlen];
+    XP_U16 outlen = VSIZE(out);
+    if ( smsToBin( out, &outlen, instr, inlen ) ) {
+        result = (*env)->NewByteArray( env, outlen );
+        jbyte* jelems = (*env)->GetByteArrayElements( env, result, NULL );
+        XP_MEMCPY( jelems, out, outlen );
+        (*env)->ReleaseByteArrayElements( env, result, jelems, 0 );
+    } else {
+        XP_ASSERT(0);
+    }
+    (*env)->ReleaseStringUTFChars( env, jstr, instr );
+    return result;
+}
+#endif
+
 #endif  /* XWFEATURE_BOARDWORDS */
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/SMSService.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/SMSService.java
index 4e89b74b8..514911b7a 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/SMSService.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/SMSService.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ import android.os.Bundle;
 import android.os.IBinder;
 import android.telephony.SmsManager;
 import android.telephony.SmsMessage;
-import android.util.Base64;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.DataInputStream;
@@ -40,6 +39,7 @@ import java.lang.System;
 import junit.framework.Assert;
 
 import org.eehouse.android.xw4.jni.CommsAddrRec;
+import org.eehouse.android.xw4.jni.XwJNI;
 
 public class SMSService extends Service {
 
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ public class SMSService extends Service {
         das.write( bytes, 0, bytes.length );
         das.flush();
 
-        String as64 = Base64.encodeToString( bas.toByteArray(), Base64.NO_WRAP );
+        String as64 = XwJNI.base64Encode( bas.toByteArray() );
         String[] msgs = breakAndEncode( as64 );
         return sendBuffers( msgs, phone );
     }
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ public class SMSService extends Service {
                               int count, String msg )
     {
         if ( index == 0 && count == 1 ) {
-            disAssemble( senderPhone, msg.getBytes() );
+            disAssemble( senderPhone, msg );
         } else {
             synchronized( s_partialMsgs ) {
                 HashMap <Integer, MsgStore> perPhone = 
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ public class SMSService extends Service {
 
                 if ( store.isComplete() ) {
                     s_partialMsgs.remove( id );
-                    byte[] fullMsg = store.message();
+                    String fullMsg = store.message();
                     perPhone.remove( id );
                     disAssemble( senderPhone, fullMsg );
                 }
@@ -351,10 +351,10 @@ public class SMSService extends Service {
         }
     }
 
-    private void disAssemble( String senderPhone, byte[] fullMsg )
+    private void disAssemble( String senderPhone, String fullMsg )
     {
         DbgUtils.logf( "disAssemble()" );
-        byte[] data = Base64.decode( fullMsg, Base64.NO_WRAP );
+        byte[] data = XwJNI.base64Decode( fullMsg );
         DataInputStream dis = 
             new DataInputStream( new ByteArrayInputStream(data) );
         try {
@@ -487,16 +487,13 @@ public class SMSService extends Service {
             return complete;
         }
 
-        public byte[] message() 
+        public String message() 
         {
-            byte[] result = new byte[m_fullLength];
-            int offset = 0;
-            for ( int ii = 0; ii < m_msgs.length; ++ii ) {
-                byte[] src = m_msgs[ii].getBytes();
-                System.arraycopy( src, 0, result, offset, src.length );
-                offset += src.length;
+            StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(m_fullLength);
+            for ( String msg : m_msgs ) {
+                sb.append( msg );
             }
-            return result;
+            return sb.toString();
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/XwJNI.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/XwJNI.java
index 722bd5de4..d8f5c9a6b 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/XwJNI.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/XwJNI.java
@@ -255,4 +255,8 @@ public class XwJNI {
     public static native int[] dict_iter_getIndices( int closure );
     public static native int dict_iter_getStartsWith( int closure, 
                                                       String prefix );
+
+    // base64 stuff since 2.1 doesn't support it in java
+    public static native String base64Encode( byte[] in );
+    public static native byte[] base64Decode( String in );
 }