diff --git a/android/apex.go b/android/apex.go
index d2fb6a107..9bf6fc717 100644
--- a/android/apex.go
+++ b/android/apex.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"sync"
+
+	"github.com/google/blueprint"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -117,6 +119,15 @@ type ApexProperties struct {
 	Info ApexInfo `blueprint:"mutated"`
 }
 
+// Marker interface that identifies dependencies that are excluded from APEX
+// contents.
+type ExcludeFromApexContentsTag interface {
+	blueprint.DependencyTag
+
+	// Method that differentiates this interface from others.
+	ExcludeFromApexContents()
+}
+
 // Provides default implementation for the ApexModule interface. APEX-aware
 // modules are expected to include this struct and call InitApexModule().
 type ApexModuleBase struct {
diff --git a/android/prebuilt.go b/android/prebuilt.go
index c902ec826..82745a498 100644
--- a/android/prebuilt.go
+++ b/android/prebuilt.go
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ var PrebuiltDepTag prebuiltDependencyTag
 // Mark this tag so dependencies that use it are excluded from visibility enforcement.
 func (t prebuiltDependencyTag) ExcludeFromVisibilityEnforcement() {}
 
+// Mark this tag so dependencies that use it are excluded from APEX contents.
+func (t prebuiltDependencyTag) ExcludeFromApexContents() {}
+
+var _ ExcludeFromVisibilityEnforcementTag = PrebuiltDepTag
+var _ ExcludeFromApexContentsTag = PrebuiltDepTag
+
 type PrebuiltProperties struct {
 	// When prefer is set to true the prebuilt will be used instead of any source module with
 	// a matching name.
diff --git a/apex/apex.go b/apex/apex.go
index a87187a18..2a5b4cba4 100644
--- a/apex/apex.go
+++ b/apex/apex.go
@@ -1985,6 +1985,9 @@ func (a *apexBundle) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(ctx android.ModuleContext) {
 	// TODO(jiyong) do this using walkPayloadDeps
 	ctx.WalkDepsBlueprint(func(child, parent blueprint.Module) bool {
 		depTag := ctx.OtherModuleDependencyTag(child)
+		if _, ok := depTag.(android.ExcludeFromApexContentsTag); ok {
+			return false
+		}
 		depName := ctx.OtherModuleName(child)
 		if _, isDirectDep := parent.(*apexBundle); isDirectDep {
 			switch depTag {
@@ -2146,7 +2149,7 @@ func (a *apexBundle) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(ctx android.ModuleContext) {
 						filesInfo = append(filesInfo, apexFileForPrebuiltEtc(ctx, prebuilt, depName))
 					}
 				} else if am.CanHaveApexVariants() && am.IsInstallableToApex() {
-					ctx.ModuleErrorf("unexpected tag %q for indirect dependency %q", depTag, depName)
+					ctx.ModuleErrorf("unexpected tag %s for indirect dependency %q", PrettyPrintTag(depTag), depName)
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/apex/apex_test.go b/apex/apex_test.go
index 716e263e1..2e5a2bdc2 100644
--- a/apex/apex_test.go
+++ b/apex/apex_test.go
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ func testApexContext(t *testing.T, bp string, handlers ...testCustomizer) (*andr
 		"my_include":                                 nil,
 		"foo/bar/MyClass.java":                       nil,
 		"prebuilt.jar":                               nil,
+		"prebuilt.so":                                nil,
 		"vendor/foo/devkeys/test.x509.pem":           nil,
 		"vendor/foo/devkeys/test.pk8":                nil,
 		"testkey.x509.pem":                           nil,
@@ -342,7 +343,7 @@ func TestBasicApex(t *testing.T) {
 			apex_available: [ "myapex" ],
 		}
 
-		cc_library {
+		cc_library_shared {
 			name: "mylib2",
 			srcs: ["mylib.cpp"],
 			system_shared_libs: [],
@@ -356,6 +357,16 @@ func TestBasicApex(t *testing.T) {
 			],
 		}
 
+		cc_prebuilt_library_shared {
+			name: "mylib2",
+			srcs: ["prebuilt.so"],
+			// TODO: remove //apex_available:platform
+			apex_available: [
+				"//apex_available:platform",
+				"myapex",
+			],
+    }
+
 		cc_library_static {
 			name: "libstatic",
 			srcs: ["mylib.cpp"],