diff --git a/android/src/com/google/zxing/client/android/PreferencesFragment.java b/android/src/com/google/zxing/client/android/PreferencesFragment.java
index 1ca498aa2..2d95eba11 100644
--- a/android/src/com/google/zxing/client/android/PreferencesFragment.java
+++ b/android/src/com/google/zxing/client/android/PreferencesFragment.java
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ public final class PreferencesFragment
       if (valueString.isEmpty()) {
         return true;
       }
+      // Before validating, remove custom placeholders, which will not
+      // be considered valid parts of the URL in some locations:
+      valueString = valueString.replaceAll("%[sdf]", "");
       // Require a scheme otherwise:
       try {
         URI uri = new URI(valueString);