diff --git a/java/app_test.go b/java/app_test.go
index 07439fcd0..0aae9280d 100644
--- a/java/app_test.go
+++ b/java/app_test.go
@@ -144,14 +144,14 @@ func TestPlatformAPIs(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	`)
 
-	testJavaError(t, "platform_apis must be true when sdk_version is empty.", `
+	testJavaError(t, "This module has conflicting settings. sdk_version is empty, which means that this module is build against platform APIs. However platform_apis is not set to true", `
 		android_app {
 			name: "bar",
 			srcs: ["b.java"],
 		}
 	`)
 
-	testJavaError(t, "platform_apis must be false when sdk_version is not empty.", `
+	testJavaError(t, "This module has conflicting settings. sdk_version is not empty, which means this module cannot use platform APIs. However platform_apis is set to true.", `
 		android_app {
 			name: "bar",
 			srcs: ["b.java"],
diff --git a/java/base.go b/java/base.go
index c1a529956..71b5ac8e0 100644
--- a/java/base.go
+++ b/java/base.go
@@ -510,9 +510,9 @@ func (j *Module) checkPlatformAPI(ctx android.ModuleContext) {
 		usePlatformAPI := proptools.Bool(j.deviceProperties.Platform_apis)
 		sdkVersionSpecified := sc.SdkVersion(ctx).Specified()
 		if usePlatformAPI && sdkVersionSpecified {
-			ctx.PropertyErrorf("platform_apis", "platform_apis must be false when sdk_version is not empty.")
+			ctx.PropertyErrorf("platform_apis", "This module has conflicting settings. sdk_version is not empty, which means this module cannot use platform APIs. However platform_apis is set to true.")
 		} else if !usePlatformAPI && !sdkVersionSpecified {
-			ctx.PropertyErrorf("platform_apis", "platform_apis must be true when sdk_version is empty.")
+			ctx.PropertyErrorf("platform_apis", "This module has conflicting settings. sdk_version is empty, which means that this module is build against platform APIs. However platform_apis is not set to true")
 		}
 
 	}