diff --git a/apps/app/lib/lifecycle.native.ts b/apps/app/lib/lifecycle.native.ts
index 7adbadb4..940025c5 100644
--- a/apps/app/lib/lifecycle.native.ts
+++ b/apps/app/lib/lifecycle.native.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { AppState, BackHandler } from 'react-native'
+import { Alert, AppState, BackHandler, PermissionsAndroid } from 'react-native'
 import { EventType } from '@notifee/react-native'
 
 import * as transmission from './transmission'
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import {
   destroyPersistentNotification,
   registerEvents,
 } from './persistentNotification'
+import { requestStoragePermission } from './permissionsAndroid'
+import i18n from '../i18n'
 
 const handleEvents = async ({ type, detail }) => {
   // Start all
@@ -34,16 +36,29 @@ const handleEvents = async ({ type, detail }) => {
 
 let isInitialized = false
 
-const init = () => {
+const createPermissionDeniedAlert = () =>
+  Alert.alert(
+    i18n.t('alerts.storagePermissionDenied.title'),
+    i18n.t('alerts.storagePermissionDenied.description'),
+    [{ text: 'Quit', onPress: quitApp }]
+  )
+
+const init = async () => {
+  isInitialized = true
+
   // Init transmission & persistent notification
   transmission.init()
   createPersistentNotification()
-  isInitialized = true
+
+  const granted = await requestStoragePermission()
+  if (granted !== PermissionsAndroid.RESULTS.GRANTED) {
+    createPermissionDeniedAlert()
+  }
 }
 
 export const initApp = async () => {
   // Next time the app become active, re-init if quitApp has been called
-  AppState.addEventListener('change', (nextAppState) => {
+  AppState.addEventListener('change', async (nextAppState) => {
     if (nextAppState === 'active' && !isInitialized) {
       init()
     }
@@ -52,8 +67,6 @@ export const initApp = async () => {
   // background events handler should be registered only once
   registerEvents(handleEvents)
   init()
-
-  isInitialized = true
 }
 
 export const quitApp = async () => {
diff --git a/apps/app/lib/permissionsAndroid.ts b/apps/app/lib/permissionsAndroid.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..848d5d96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/app/lib/permissionsAndroid.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { PermissionsAndroid } from 'react-native'
+import i18n from '../i18n'
+
+export const requestStoragePermission = async () => {
+  const granted = await PermissionsAndroid.request(
+    PermissionsAndroid.PERMISSIONS.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE,
+    {
+      title: i18n.t('alerts.storagePermissionRequest.title'),
+      message: i18n.t('alerts.storagePermissionRequest.description'),
+      buttonPositive: 'OK',
+    }
+  )
+
+  return granted
+}
diff --git a/apps/app/locales/en.json b/apps/app/locales/en.json
index c53a4eff..c2050e0f 100644
--- a/apps/app/locales/en.json
+++ b/apps/app/locales/en.json
@@ -179,5 +179,15 @@
   "library": {
     "download": "Download",
     "moreToCome": "More to come..."
+  },
+  "alerts": {
+    "storagePermissionRequest": {
+      "title": "Storage permission",
+      "description": "PikaTorrent needs access to storage to save downloaded data."
+    },
+    "storagePermissionDenied": {
+      "title": "Storage permission denied",
+      "description": "'You need to allow storage permission for PikaTorrent.'"
+    }
   }
 }