diff --git a/android/sms-watchdog.sh b/android/sms-watchdog.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1cec63d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/android/sms-watchdog.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash
+#
+# SMS API Server Watchdog
+# Monitors the Flask server and restarts it if it crashes.
+# Run this from ~/.termux/boot/start-sms-server or manually.
+#
+
+SERVER_SCRIPT="$HOME/sms-server/android/termux-sms-api-server.py"
+LOG_DIR="$HOME/logs"
+LOG_FILE="$LOG_DIR/sms-api.log"
+PID_FILE="$LOG_DIR/sms-api.pid"
+CHECK_INTERVAL=30  # seconds between health checks
+
+mkdir -p "$LOG_DIR"
+
+log() {
+    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') [watchdog] $1" >> "$LOG_FILE"
+    echo "[watchdog] $1"
+}
+
+start_server() {
+    if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ]; then
+        local old_pid
+        old_pid=$(cat "$PID_FILE")
+        if kill -0 "$old_pid" 2>/dev/null; then
+            log "Server already running (PID $old_pid)"
+            return 0
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    log "Starting SMS API server..."
+    nohup python "$SERVER_SCRIPT" >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1 &
+    echo $! > "$PID_FILE"
+    log "Server started (PID $!)"
+    sleep 3  # Give it time to start
+}
+
+check_health() {
+    curl -s --max-time 5 http://127.0.0.1:5001/health > /dev/null 2>&1
+    return $?
+}
+
+# Acquire wake lock to prevent Android from killing us
+termux-wake-lock 2>/dev/null
+
+log "Watchdog starting..."
+start_server
+
+# Main watchdog loop
+while true; do
+    sleep "$CHECK_INTERVAL"
+
+    if ! check_health; then
+        log "Health check FAILED — restarting server"
+
+        # Kill old process if it exists
+        if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ]; then
+            kill "$(cat "$PID_FILE")" 2>/dev/null
+            sleep 2
+        fi
+
+        # Also kill any orphaned instances
+        pkill -f "termux-sms-api-server.py" 2>/dev/null
+        sleep 1
+
+        start_server
+
+        if check_health; then
+            log "Server restarted successfully"
+        else
+            log "Server failed to restart — will retry in ${CHECK_INTERVAL}s"
+        fi
+    fi
+done
diff --git a/android/termux-sms-api-server.py b/android/termux-sms-api-server.py
index 2470832..fd6e34c 100644
--- a/android/termux-sms-api-server.py
+++ b/android/termux-sms-api-server.py
@@ -19,12 +19,15 @@ import os
 from datetime import datetime
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Any
 
-# Configure logging
+# Configure logging — ensure log directory exists before creating FileHandler
+_log_dir = os.path.expanduser('~/logs')
+os.makedirs(_log_dir, exist_ok=True)
+
 logging.basicConfig(
     level=logging.INFO,
     format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s',
     handlers=[
-        logging.FileHandler('/data/data/com.termux/files/home/logs/sms-api.log'),
+        logging.FileHandler(os.path.join(_log_dir, 'sms-api.log')),
         logging.StreamHandler()
     ]
 )
@@ -766,8 +769,6 @@ def list_contacts():
         return jsonify({'success': False, 'error': str(e)}), 500
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    # Create logs directory
-    os.makedirs('/data/data/com.termux/files/home/logs', exist_ok=True)
 
     # Validate required configuration
     if not CONFIG['SECRET_KEY']: