diff --git a/morango/migrations/0006_instanceidmodel_system_id.py b/morango/migrations/0006_instanceidmodel_system_id.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d4c5f863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/morango/migrations/0006_instanceidmodel_system_id.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Generated by Django 1.9 on 2017-06-30 00:15
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('morango', '0005_auto_20170629_2139'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='instanceidmodel',
+            name='system_id',
+            field=models.CharField(blank=True, max_length=100),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/morango/models.py b/morango/models.py
index 937857ba..9e6458bc 100644
--- a/morango/models.py
+++ b/morango/models.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class InstanceIDModel(UUIDModelMixin):
     as well as its counter with all the records that were serialized at the time.
     """
 
-    uuid_input_fields = ("platform", "hostname", "sysversion", "macaddress", "database_id", "db_path")
+    uuid_input_fields = ("platform", "hostname", "sysversion", "macaddress", "database_id", "db_path", "system_id")
 
     platform = models.TextField()
     hostname = models.TextField()
@@ -69,18 +69,26 @@ class InstanceIDModel(UUIDModelMixin):
     counter = models.IntegerField(default=0)
     current = models.BooleanField(default=True)
     db_path = models.CharField(max_length=1000)
+    system_id = models.CharField(max_length=100, blank=True)
 
     @staticmethod
     def get_or_create_current_instance():
         """Get the instance model corresponding to the current system, or create a new
         one if the system is new or its properties have changed (e.g. OS from upgrade)."""
 
+        # on Android, platform.platform() barfs, so we handle that safely here
+        try:
+            plat = platform.platform()
+        except:
+            plat = "Unknown (Android?)"
+
         kwargs = {
-            "platform": platform.platform(),
+            "platform": plat,
             "hostname": platform.node(),
             "sysversion": sys.version,
             "database": DatabaseIDModel.objects.get(current=True),
             "db_path": os.path.abspath(settings.DATABASES['default']['NAME']),
+            "system_id": os.environ.get("MORANGO_SYSTEM_ID", ""),
         }
 
         # try to get the MAC address, but exclude it if it was a fake (random) address