diff --git a/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperInitializer.java b/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperInitializer.java
index 1fe8af6c0..a65056996 100644
--- a/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperInitializer.java
+++ b/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperInitializer.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.inspector.DescriptorMapping;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.inspector.InspectorFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.leakcanary.LeakCanaryFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.litho.LithoFlipperDescriptors;
+import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.navigation.NavigationFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.network.FlipperOkhttpInterceptor;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.network.NetworkFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.sharedpreferences.SharedPreferencesFlipperPlugin;
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ public final class FlipperInitializer {
     client.addPlugin(new ExampleFlipperPlugin());
     client.addPlugin(CrashReporterPlugin.getInstance());
     client.addPlugin(new DatabasesFlipperPlugin(context));
+    client.addPlugin(NavigationFlipperPlugin.getInstance());
     client.start();
 
     final OkHttpClient okHttpClient =
diff --git a/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/NavigationFacade.java b/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/NavigationFacade.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..26f3df70a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/android/sample/src/debug/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/NavigationFacade.java
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+package com.facebook.flipper.sample;
+
+import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.navigation.NavigationFlipperPlugin;
+
+/**
+ * Limited interface to the navigation plugin which is only available for debug builds.
+ */
+public class NavigationFacade {
+  private NavigationFacade() {}
+
+  public static void sendNavigationEvent(String value) {
+    NavigationFlipperPlugin.getInstance().sendNavigationEvent(value);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/DeepLinkActivity.java b/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/DeepLinkActivity.java
index 69f052880..8b56514a9 100644
--- a/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/DeepLinkActivity.java
+++ b/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/DeepLinkActivity.java
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ package com.facebook.flipper.sample;
 
 import android.os.Bundle;
 import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
-import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.navigation.NavigationFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.litho.Component;
 import com.facebook.litho.ComponentContext;
 import com.facebook.litho.LithoView;
@@ -20,7 +19,7 @@ public class DeepLinkActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
   @Override
   protected void onCreate(final Bundle savedInstanceState) {
     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
-    NavigationFlipperPlugin.getInstance().sendNavigationEvent("flipper://deep_link_activity/");
+    NavigationFacade.sendNavigationEvent("flipper://deep_link_activity/");
 
     final ComponentContext context = new ComponentContext(this);
 
diff --git a/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperSampleApplication.java b/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperSampleApplication.java
index 2722def8b..1b0e3d859 100644
--- a/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperSampleApplication.java
+++ b/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/FlipperSampleApplication.java
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import android.database.DatabaseUtils;
 import com.facebook.drawee.backends.pipeline.Fresco;
 import com.facebook.flipper.android.AndroidFlipperClient;
 import com.facebook.flipper.core.FlipperClient;
-import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.navigation.NavigationFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.flipper.sample.network.NetworkClient;
 import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
@@ -25,8 +24,6 @@ public class FlipperSampleApplication extends Application {
     Fresco.initialize(this);
 
     final FlipperClient client = AndroidFlipperClient.getInstance(this);
-    client.addPlugin(NavigationFlipperPlugin.getInstance());
-
     final FlipperInitializer.IntializationResult initializationResult =
         FlipperInitializer.initFlipperPlugins(this, client);
 
diff --git a/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/MainActivity.java b/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/MainActivity.java
index 227453177..3c83426a4 100644
--- a/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/MainActivity.java
+++ b/android/sample/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/MainActivity.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
 import com.facebook.flipper.android.AndroidFlipperClient;
 import com.facebook.flipper.core.FlipperClient;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.example.ExampleFlipperPlugin;
-import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.navigation.NavigationFlipperPlugin;
 import com.facebook.litho.ComponentContext;
 import com.facebook.litho.LithoView;
 
@@ -22,7 +21,7 @@ public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
   protected void onCreate(final Bundle savedInstanceState) {
     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 
-    NavigationFlipperPlugin.getInstance().sendNavigationEvent("flipper://demo_page/");
+    NavigationFacade.sendNavigationEvent("flipper://deep_link_activity/");
 
     final ComponentContext c = new ComponentContext(this);
     setContentView(LithoView.create(c, RootComponent.create(c).build()));
diff --git a/android/sample/src/release/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/NavigationFacade.java b/android/sample/src/release/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/NavigationFacade.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..033b3e40b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/android/sample/src/release/java/com/facebook/flipper/sample/NavigationFacade.java
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+package com.facebook.flipper.sample;
+
+/**
+ * No-op implementation of an ad-hoc interface. See debug/ for the real implementation.
+ */
+public class NavigationFacade {
+  private NavigationFacade() {}
+
+  public static void sendNavigationEvent(String value) {
+    // no-nop
+  }
+}