diff --git a/base/VulkanDebug.cpp b/base/VulkanDebug.cpp
index 8f642bfa..c18f1364 100644
--- a/base/VulkanDebug.cpp
+++ b/base/VulkanDebug.cpp
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 /*
 * Vulkan examples debug wrapper
 * 
-* Appendix for VK_EXT_Debug_Report can be found at https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs/blob/1.0-VK_EXT_debug_report/doc/specs/vulkan/appendices/debug_report.txt
-*
-* Copyright (C) 2016 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
+* Copyright (C) by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
 *
 * This code is licensed under the MIT license (MIT) (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 */
@@ -15,25 +13,6 @@ namespace vks
 {
 	namespace debug
 	{
-#if !defined(__ANDROID__)
-		// On desktop the LunarG loaders exposes a meta layer that contains all layers
-		int32_t validationLayerCount = 1;
-		const char *validationLayerNames[] = {
-			"VK_LAYER_LUNARG_standard_validation"
-		};
-#else
-		// On Android we need to explicitly select all layers
-		int32_t validationLayerCount = 6;
-		const char *validationLayerNames[] = {
-			"VK_LAYER_GOOGLE_threading",
-			"VK_LAYER_LUNARG_parameter_validation",
-			"VK_LAYER_LUNARG_object_tracker",
-			"VK_LAYER_LUNARG_core_validation",
-			"VK_LAYER_LUNARG_swapchain",
-			"VK_LAYER_GOOGLE_unique_objects"
-		};
-#endif
-
 		PFN_vkCreateDebugReportCallbackEXT CreateDebugReportCallback = VK_NULL_HANDLE;
 		PFN_vkDestroyDebugReportCallbackEXT DestroyDebugReportCallback = VK_NULL_HANDLE;
 		PFN_vkDebugReportMessageEXT dbgBreakCallback = VK_NULL_HANDLE;
diff --git a/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp b/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
index e695a910..a197c39f 100644
--- a/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
+++ b/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
 * Vulkan Example base class
 *
-* Copyright (C) 2016-2017 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
+* Copyright (C) by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
 *
 * This code is licensed under the MIT license (MIT) (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 */
@@ -65,8 +65,27 @@ VkResult VulkanExampleBase::createInstance(bool enableValidation)
 	}
 	if (settings.validation)
 	{
-		instanceCreateInfo.enabledLayerCount = vks::debug::validationLayerCount;
-		instanceCreateInfo.ppEnabledLayerNames = vks::debug::validationLayerNames;
+		// The VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation contains all current validation functionality.
+		// Note that on Android this layer requires at least NDK r20 
+		const char* validationLayerName = "VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation";
+		// Check if this layer is available at instance level
+		uint32_t instanceLayerCount;
+		vkEnumerateInstanceLayerProperties(&instanceLayerCount, nullptr);
+		std::vector<VkLayerProperties> instanceLayerProperties(instanceLayerCount);
+		vkEnumerateInstanceLayerProperties(&instanceLayerCount, instanceLayerProperties.data());
+		bool validationLayerPresent = false;
+		for each (VkLayerProperties layer in instanceLayerProperties) {
+			if (strcmp(layer.layerName, validationLayerName) == 0) {
+				validationLayerPresent = true;
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+		if (validationLayerPresent) {
+			instanceCreateInfo.ppEnabledLayerNames = &validationLayerName;
+			instanceCreateInfo.enabledLayerCount = 1;
+		} else {
+			std::cerr << "Validation layer VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation not present, validation is disabled";
+		}
 	}
 	return vkCreateInstance(&instanceCreateInfo, nullptr, &instance);
 }