diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 30fe301a349..6a83f72f168 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Fixes
+
+- Fix main thread identification for tombstone (native crash) events ([#5742](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/5742))
+
 ### Dependencies
 
 - Bump Native SDK from v0.15.2 to v0.15.3 ([#5728](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/5728))
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParser.java b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParser.java
index 1f142b52c9a..c3966615899 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParser.java
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParser.java
@@ -114,6 +114,15 @@ private List<SentryThread> createThreads(
         // the backend currently requires a stack-trace in exception
         exc.setStacktrace(stacktrace);
       }
+
+      // thread id always equals the process id,
+      // so we use it to reliably detect the main thread
+      if (tombstone.pid == threadEntryValue.id) {
+        // the OS may provide a (truncated) process name; normalize it
+        // back to "main" so downstream consumers see a consistent name
+        thread.setName("main");
+        thread.setMain(true);
+      }
       threads.add(thread);
     }
 
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/TombstoneIntegrationTest.kt b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/TombstoneIntegrationTest.kt
index 9890d553dbc..e3e88d04f7a 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/TombstoneIntegrationTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/TombstoneIntegrationTest.kt
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ class TombstoneIntegrationTest : ApplicationExitIntegrationTestBase<TombstoneHin
     val crashedThreadId = 21891L
     assertEquals(crashedThreadId, event.exceptions!![0].threadId)
     val crashedThread = event.threads!!.find { thread -> thread.id == crashedThreadId }
-    assertEquals("samples.android", crashedThread!!.name)
+    assertEquals("main", crashedThread!!.name)
+    assertTrue(crashedThread.isMain!!)
     assertTrue(crashedThread.isCrashed!!)
 
     // Verify that frames from the app's native library are marked as in-app
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParserTest.kt b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParserTest.kt
index 34e704188c4..70fc48fd9be 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParserTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/tombstone/TombstoneParserTest.kt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import java.io.StringWriter
 import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream
 import kotlin.test.Test
 import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+import kotlin.test.assertNotEquals
 import kotlin.test.assertNotNull
 import org.mockito.kotlin.mock
 
@@ -99,6 +100,10 @@ class TombstoneParserTest {
 
     // threads
     assertEquals(62, event.threads!!.size)
+    val mainThread = event.threads!!.single { it.isMain == true }
+    assertEquals(21891, mainThread.id)
+    assertEquals("main", mainThread.name)
+
     for (thread in event.threads!!) {
       assertNotNull(thread.id)
       if (thread.id == crashedThreadId) {
@@ -397,6 +402,73 @@ class TombstoneParserTest {
     assertEquals(expectedJson, actualJson)
   }
 
+  @Test
+  fun `identifies the main thread via pid matching the thread id and normalizes its name`() {
+    val tombstone =
+      Tombstone.Builder()
+        .pid(1000)
+        .tid(2000)
+        .signal(Signal(11, "SIGSEGV", 1, "SEGV_MAPERR", false, 0, 0, false, 0, null))
+        // main thread: id == pid, but the OS renamed it to the process name
+        .addThread(
+          TombstoneThread(
+            1000,
+            "io.sentry.samples.android",
+            emptyList(),
+            emptyList(),
+            emptyList(),
+            listOf(BacktraceFrame(0, 0x100, 0, "main", 0, "/system/lib64/libc.so", 0, "")),
+            emptyList(),
+            0,
+            0,
+          )
+        )
+        .addThread(
+          TombstoneThread(
+            2000,
+            "crashed-worker",
+            emptyList(),
+            emptyList(),
+            emptyList(),
+            listOf(BacktraceFrame(0, 0x200, 0, "crash", 0, "/system/lib64/libc.so", 0, "")),
+            emptyList(),
+            0,
+            0,
+          )
+        )
+        .addThread(
+          TombstoneThread(
+            3000,
+            "Thread-3",
+            emptyList(),
+            emptyList(),
+            emptyList(),
+            listOf(BacktraceFrame(0, 0x300, 0, "work", 0, "/system/lib64/libc.so", 0, "")),
+            emptyList(),
+            0,
+            0,
+          )
+        )
+        .build()
+
+    val event = parser.parse(tombstone)
+    val threads = event.threads!!
+
+    val main = threads.single { it.isMain == true }
+    assertEquals(1000, main.id)
+    assertEquals("main", main.name)
+
+    val crashed = threads.single { it.isCrashed == true }
+    assertEquals(2000, crashed.id)
+    assertNotEquals(true, crashed.isMain)
+    assertEquals("crashed-worker", crashed.name)
+
+    val background = threads.single { it.id == 3000L }
+    assertNotEquals(true, background.isMain)
+    assertNotEquals(true, background.isCrashed)
+    assertEquals("Thread-3", background.name)
+  }
+
   @Test
   fun `parses tombstone when nativeLibraryDir is null`() {
     val tombstoneStream =