diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 94bfa6efa..ce60e846e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@
     "lodash.debounce": "^4.0.8",
     "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "openssl-wrapper": "^0.3.4",
-    "promise-retry": "^1.1.1",
     "prop-types": "^15.6.0",
     "react": "16",
     "react-color": "^2.11.7",
diff --git a/src/dispatcher/androidDevice.js b/src/dispatcher/androidDevice.js
index da4b8bd4b..ffb905784 100644
--- a/src/dispatcher/androidDevice.js
+++ b/src/dispatcher/androidDevice.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 import AndroidDevice from '../devices/AndroidDevice';
 import child_process from 'child_process';
-import promiseRetry from 'promise-retry';
+import {promisify} from 'util';
 import type {Store} from '../reducers/index.js';
 import type BaseDevice from '../devices/BaseDevice';
 import type Logger from '../fb-stubs/Logger.js';
@@ -55,31 +55,21 @@ function getRunningEmulatorName(id: string): Promise<?string> {
 }
 
 export default (store: Store, logger: Logger) => {
-  // Using this client before adb server is started up will cause failures.
-  // this gets around this by waiting for listDevices first, which ensures
-  // the server is up and running before allowing any other operations.
+  // Adbkit will attempt to start the adb server if it's not already running,
+  // however, it sometimes fails with ENOENT errors. So instead, we start it
+  // manually before requesting a client.
 
   function createClient() {
-    const unsafeClient = adb.createClient();
-    return promiseRetry(
-      (retry, number) => {
-        return unsafeClient
-          .listDevices()
-          .then(() => {
-            return unsafeClient;
-          })
-          .catch(e => {
-            console.warn(`Failed to start adb client. Retrying. ${e.message}`);
-            retry(e);
-          });
-      },
-      {
-        minTimeout: 200,
-        retries: 5,
-      },
-    );
+    return promisify(child_process.exec)('adb start-server')
+      .then(result => {
+        if (result.error) {
+          throw new Error(
+            `Failed to start adb server: ${result.stderr.toString()}`,
+          );
+        }
+      })
+      .then(adb.createClient);
   }
-  const clientPromise = createClient();
 
   const watchAndroidDevices = () => {
     // get emulators
@@ -98,7 +88,7 @@ export default (store: Store, logger: Logger) => {
       },
     );
 
-    clientPromise
+    createClient()
       .then(client => {
         client
           .trackDevices()
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 5b6b316c2..f7bcddc43 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2280,11 +2280,6 @@ env-paths@^1.0.0:
   version "1.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/env-paths/-/env-paths-1.0.0.tgz#4168133b42bb05c38a35b1ae4397c8298ab369e0"
 
-err-code@^1.0.0:
-  version "1.1.2"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/err-code/-/err-code-1.1.2.tgz#06e0116d3028f6aef4806849eb0ea6a748ae6960"
-  integrity sha1-BuARbTAo9q70gGhJ6w6mp0iuaWA=
-
 error-ex@^1.2.0:
   version "1.3.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/error-ex/-/error-ex-1.3.1.tgz#f855a86ce61adc4e8621c3cda21e7a7612c3a8dc"
@@ -5149,14 +5144,6 @@ progress@^2.0.0:
   version "2.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/progress/-/progress-2.0.0.tgz#8a1be366bf8fc23db2bd23f10c6fe920b4389d1f"
 
-promise-retry@^1.1.1:
-  version "1.1.1"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/promise-retry/-/promise-retry-1.1.1.tgz#6739e968e3051da20ce6497fb2b50f6911df3d6d"
-  integrity sha1-ZznpaOMFHaIM5kl/srUPaRHfPW0=
-  dependencies:
-    err-code "^1.0.0"
-    retry "^0.10.0"
-
 promise@^7.1.1:
   version "7.3.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/promise/-/promise-7.3.1.tgz#064b72602b18f90f29192b8b1bc418ffd1ebd3bf"
@@ -5653,11 +5640,6 @@ ret@~0.1.10:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/ret/-/ret-0.1.15.tgz#b8a4825d5bdb1fc3f6f53c2bc33f81388681c7bc"
   integrity sha512-TTlYpa+OL+vMMNG24xSlQGEJ3B/RzEfUlLct7b5G/ytav+wPrplCpVMFuwzXbkecJrb6IYo1iFb0S9v37754mg==
 
-retry@^0.10.0:
-  version "0.10.1"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/retry/-/retry-0.10.1.tgz#e76388d217992c252750241d3d3956fed98d8ff4"
-  integrity sha1-52OI0heZLCUnUCQdPTlW/tmNj/Q=
-
 rimraf@^2.2.8, rimraf@^2.5.2, rimraf@^2.5.4, rimraf@^2.6.1:
   version "2.6.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/rimraf/-/rimraf-2.6.2.tgz#2ed8150d24a16ea8651e6d6ef0f47c4158ce7a36"