diff --git a/tor-android-binary/src/main/java/org/torproject/jni/TorService.java b/tor-android-binary/src/main/java/org/torproject/jni/TorService.java
index 5af50f6c253b91bf3e9915959ca10d24ba6531d5..87c2fd2079a47707adb69324955872e7ef00659b 100644
--- a/tor-android-binary/src/main/java/org/torproject/jni/TorService.java
+++ b/tor-android-binary/src/main/java/org/torproject/jni/TorService.java
@@ -440,8 +440,6 @@ public class TorService extends Service {
                 createTorConfiguration();
                 ArrayList<String> lines = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList("tor", "--verify-config", // must always be here
                         "--RunAsDaemon", "0",
-                        "-f", getTorrc(context).getAbsolutePath(),
-                        "--defaults-torrc", getDefaultsTorrc(context).getAbsolutePath(),
                         "--ignore-missing-torrc",
                         "--SyslogIdentityTag", TAG,
                         "--CacheDirectory", new File(getCacheDir(), TAG).getAbsolutePath(),
@@ -455,6 +453,10 @@ public class TorService extends Service {
                         "--LogMessageDomains", "1",
                         "--TruncateLogFile", "1"
                 ));
+                if (clientTransportPlugin != null) {
+                    lines.add("-f");
+                    lines.add(getTorrc(context).getAbsolutePath());
+                }
                 String[] verifyLines = lines.toArray(new String[0]);
                 if (!mainConfigurationSetCommandLine(verifyLines)) {
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException("Setting command line failed: " + Arrays.toString(verifyLines));