diff --git a/doc/source/buildoptions.rst b/doc/source/buildoptions.rst
index d9f97175a2..cfe8bc1a04 100644
--- a/doc/source/buildoptions.rst
+++ b/doc/source/buildoptions.rst
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ options (this list may not be exhaustive):
 - ``--add-source``: Add a source directory to the app's Java code.
 - ``--no-compile-pyo``: Do not optimise .py files to .pyo.
 - ``--enable-androidx``: Enable AndroidX support library.
+- ``--add-resource``: Put this file or directory in the apk res directory.
 
 
 webview
diff --git a/pythonforandroid/bootstraps/common/build/build.py b/pythonforandroid/bootstraps/common/build/build.py
index 6885a333df..a9f4dde42e 100644
--- a/pythonforandroid/bootstraps/common/build/build.py
+++ b/pythonforandroid/bootstraps/common/build/build.py
@@ -340,6 +340,24 @@ def make_package(args):
 
     # Prepare some variables for templating process
     res_dir = "src/main/res"
+    res_dir_initial = "src/res_initial"
+    # make res_dir stateless
+    if exists(res_dir_initial):
+        shutil.rmtree(res_dir, ignore_errors=True)
+        shutil.copytree(res_dir_initial, res_dir)
+    else:
+        shutil.copytree(res_dir, res_dir_initial)
+
+    # Add user resouces
+    for resource in args.resources:
+        resource_src, resource_dest = resource.split(":")
+        if isfile(realpath(resource_src)):
+            ensure_dir(dirname(join(res_dir, resource_dest)))
+            shutil.copy(realpath(resource_src), join(res_dir, resource_dest))
+        else:
+            shutil.copytree(realpath(resource_src),
+                            join(res_dir, resource_dest), dirs_exist_ok=True)
+
     default_icon = 'templates/kivy-icon.png'
     default_presplash = 'templates/kivy-presplash.jpg'
     shutil.copy(
@@ -698,6 +716,10 @@ def parse_args_and_make_package(args=None):
                     action="append", default=[],
                     metavar="/path/to/source:dest",
                     help='Put this in the assets folder at assets/dest')
+    ap.add_argument('--resource', dest='resources',
+                    action="append", default=[],
+                    metavar="/path/to/source:kind/asset",
+                    help='Put this in the res folder at res/kind')
     ap.add_argument('--icon', dest='icon',
                     help=('A png file to use as the icon for '
                           'the application.'))
diff --git a/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py b/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py
index 1b81aa923c..daf895e897 100644
--- a/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py
+++ b/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py
@@ -512,6 +512,10 @@ def add_parser(subparsers, *args, **kwargs):
             '--add-asset', dest='assets',
             action="append", default=[],
             help='Put this in the assets folder in the apk.')
+        parser_packaging.add_argument(
+            '--add-resource', dest='resources',
+            action="append", default=[],
+            help='Put this in the res folder in the apk.')
         parser_packaging.add_argument(
             '--private', dest='private',
             help='the directory with the app source code files' +
@@ -1000,6 +1004,14 @@ def _fix_args(args):
                 asset_src = asset_dest = asset
             # take abspath now, because build.py will be run in bootstrap dir
             unknown_args += ["--asset", os.path.abspath(asset_src)+":"+asset_dest]
+        for resource in args.resources:
+            if ":" in resource:
+                resource_src, resource_dest = resource.split(":")
+            else:
+                resource_src = resource
+                resource_dest = ""
+            # take abspath now, because build.py will be run in bootstrap dir
+            unknown_args += ["--resource", os.path.abspath(resource_src)+":"+resource_dest]
         for i, arg in enumerate(unknown_args):
             argx = arg.split('=')
             if argx[0] in fix_args: