diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/DescriptorMapping.java b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/DescriptorMapping.java
index b41299bc7..99144ad45 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/DescriptorMapping.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/DescriptorMapping.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import android.view.View;
 import android.view.ViewGroup;
 import android.view.Window;
 import android.widget.TextView;
+import androidx.annotation.Nullable;
 import com.facebook.flipper.core.FlipperConnection;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.inspector.descriptors.ActivityDescriptor;
 import com.facebook.flipper.plugins.inspector.descriptors.ApplicationDescriptor;
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ public class DescriptorMapping {
     mMapping.put(clazz, descriptor);
   }
 
-  public NodeDescriptor<?> descriptorForClass(Class<?> clazz) {
+  public @Nullable NodeDescriptor<?> descriptorForClass(Class<?> clazz) {
     while (!mMapping.containsKey(clazz)) {
       clazz = clazz.getSuperclass();
     }
diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/NodeDescriptor.java b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/NodeDescriptor.java
index 9fca55112..c1bb34bc0 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/NodeDescriptor.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/NodeDescriptor.java
@@ -17,13 +17,15 @@ import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 
 /**
- * A NodeDescriptor is an object which known how to expose an Object of type T to the ew Inspector.
+ * A NodeDescriptor is an object which known how to expose an Object of type T to the new Inspector.
  * This class is the extension point for the Flipper inspector plugin and is how custom classes and
  * data can be exposed to the inspector.
  */
 public abstract class NodeDescriptor<T> {
   @Nullable protected FlipperConnection mConnection;
-  private DescriptorMapping mDescriptorMapping;
+
+  // This field is not initialized until setDescriptorMapping is called
+  @Nullable private DescriptorMapping mDescriptorMapping;
 
   void setConnection(FlipperConnection connection) {
     mConnection = connection;
@@ -39,8 +41,11 @@ public abstract class NodeDescriptor<T> {
    *     object it describes. This is highly encouraged instead of subclassing another descriptor
    *     class.
    */
-  protected final NodeDescriptor<?> descriptorForClass(Class<?> clazz) {
-    return mDescriptorMapping.descriptorForClass(clazz);
+  protected final @Nullable NodeDescriptor<?> descriptorForClass(Class<?> clazz) {
+    if (mDescriptorMapping != null) {
+      return mDescriptorMapping.descriptorForClass(clazz);
+    }
+    return null;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ApplicationDescriptor.java b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ApplicationDescriptor.java
index 7f4c38066..a3457fd1b 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ApplicationDescriptor.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ApplicationDescriptor.java
@@ -230,7 +230,9 @@ public class ApplicationDescriptor extends NodeDescriptor<ApplicationWrapper> {
     if (childCount > 0) {
       final Object topChild = getChildAt(node, childCount - 1);
       final NodeDescriptor descriptor = descriptorForClass(topChild.getClass());
-      descriptor.setHighlighted(topChild, selected, isAlignmentMode);
+      if (descriptor != null) {
+        descriptor.setHighlighted(topChild, selected, isAlignmentMode);
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ObjectDescriptor.java b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ObjectDescriptor.java
index f3150075c..ac14cb39e 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ObjectDescriptor.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ObjectDescriptor.java
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ public class ObjectDescriptor extends NodeDescriptor<Object> {
   @Override
   public boolean matches(String query, Object node) throws Exception {
     final NodeDescriptor descriptor = descriptorForClass(node.getClass());
-    final List<Named<String>> attributes = descriptor.getAttributes(node);
+    final List<Named<String>> attributes =
+        descriptor == null ? Collections.emptyList() : descriptor.getAttributes(node);
     for (Named<String> namedString : attributes) {
       if (namedString.getName().equals("id")) {
         if (namedString.getValue().toLowerCase().contains(query)) {
@@ -79,6 +80,6 @@ public class ObjectDescriptor extends NodeDescriptor<Object> {
       }
     }
 
-    return descriptor.getName(node).toLowerCase().contains(query);
+    return descriptor == null ? false : descriptor.getName(node).toLowerCase().contains(query);
   }
 }
diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ViewGroupDescriptor.java b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ViewGroupDescriptor.java
index bddf55e04..89fc27bb4 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ViewGroupDescriptor.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/facebook/flipper/plugins/inspector/descriptors/ViewGroupDescriptor.java
@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ public class ViewGroupDescriptor extends NodeDescriptor<ViewGroup> {
               if (connected()) {
                 if (key.set(node)) {
                   NodeDescriptor descriptor = descriptorForClass(node.getClass());
-                  descriptor.invalidate(node);
+                  if (descriptor != null) {
+                    descriptor.invalidate(node);
+                  }
                   invalidateAX(node);
                 }