diff --git a/staticlibs/tests/unit/src/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtilsTest.kt b/staticlibs/tests/unit/src/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtilsTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..46a3588f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staticlibs/tests/unit/src/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtilsTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2019 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.android.testutils
+
+import android.os.Handler
+import android.os.HandlerThread
+import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith
+import org.junit.runners.JUnit4
+
+private const val ATTEMPTS = 50 // Causes testWaitForIdle to take about 150ms on aosp_crosshatch-eng
+private const val TIMEOUT_MS = 200
+
+@RunWith(JUnit4::class)
+class HandlerUtilsTest {
+    @Test
+    fun testWaitForIdle() {
+        val handlerThread = HandlerThread("testHandler").apply { start() }
+
+        // Tests that waitForIdle can be called many times without ill impact if the service is
+        // already idle.
+        repeat(ATTEMPTS) {
+            handlerThread.waitForIdle(TIMEOUT_MS)
+        }
+
+        // Tests that calling waitForIdle waits for messages to be processed. Use both an
+        // inline runnable that's instantiated at each loop run and a runnable that's instantiated
+        // once for all.
+        val tempRunnable = object : Runnable {
+            // Use StringBuilder preferentially to StringBuffer because StringBuilder is NOT
+            // thread-safe. It's part of the point that both runnables run on the same thread
+            // so if anything is wrong in that space it's better to opportunistically use a class
+            // where things might go wrong, even if there is no guarantee of failure.
+            var memory = StringBuilder()
+            override fun run() {
+                memory.append("b")
+            }
+        }
+        repeat(ATTEMPTS) { i ->
+            handlerThread.threadHandler.post { tempRunnable.memory.append("a"); }
+            handlerThread.threadHandler.post(tempRunnable)
+            handlerThread.waitForIdle(TIMEOUT_MS)
+            assertEquals(tempRunnable.memory.toString(), "ab".repeat(i + 1))
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Statistical test : even if visibleOnHandlerThread doesn't work this is likely to succeed,
+    // but it will be at least flaky.
+    @Test
+    fun testVisibleOnHandlerThread() {
+        val handlerThread = HandlerThread("testHandler").apply { start() }
+        val handler = Handler(handlerThread.looper)
+
+        repeat(ATTEMPTS) { attempt ->
+            var x = -10
+            visibleOnHandlerThread(handler) { x = attempt }
+            assertEquals(attempt, x)
+            handler.post { assertEquals(attempt, x) }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/staticlibs/testutils/devicetests/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtils.kt b/staticlibs/testutils/devicetests/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtils.kt
index 861f45ee3c..68713490d2 100644
--- a/staticlibs/testutils/devicetests/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtils.kt
+++ b/staticlibs/testutils/devicetests/com/android/testutils/HandlerUtils.kt
@@ -21,9 +21,14 @@ package com.android.testutils
 import android.os.ConditionVariable
 import android.os.Handler
 import android.os.HandlerThread
+import android.util.Log
+import com.android.testutils.FunctionalUtils.ThrowingRunnable
+import java.lang.Exception
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor
 import kotlin.test.fail
 
+private const val TAG = "HandlerUtils"
+
 /**
  * Block until the specified Handler or HandlerThread becomes idle, or until timeoutMs has passed.
  */
@@ -48,3 +53,28 @@ fun waitForIdleSerialExecutor(executor: Executor, timeoutMs: Long) {
         fail("Executor did not become idle after ${timeoutMs}ms")
     }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Executes a block of code, making its side effects visible on the caller and the handler thread
+ *
+ * After this function returns, the side effects of the passed block of code are guaranteed to be
+ * observed both on the thread running the handler and on the thread running this method.
+ * To achieve this, this method runs the passed block on the handler and blocks this thread
+ * until it's executed, so keep in mind this method will block, (including, if the handler isn't
+ * running, blocking forever).
+ */
+fun visibleOnHandlerThread(handler: Handler, r: ThrowingRunnable) {
+    val cv = ConditionVariable()
+    handler.post {
+        try {
+            r.run()
+        } catch (exception: Exception) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "visibleOnHandlerThread caught exception", exception)
+        }
+        cv.open()
+    }
+    // After block() returns, the handler thread has seen the change (since it ran it)
+    // and this thread also has seen the change (since cv.open() happens-before cv.block()
+    // returns).
+    cv.block()
+}