diff --git a/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettings.java b/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettings.java
index 66f9179ed64..66e8d2205c0 100644
--- a/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettings.java
+++ b/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettings.java
@@ -247,10 +247,13 @@ public class AccountSyncSettings extends AccountPreferenceBase {
         }
         if (preference instanceof SyncStateSwitchPreference) {
             SyncStateSwitchPreference syncPref = (SyncStateSwitchPreference) preference;
-            String authority = syncPref.getAuthority();
-            Account account = syncPref.getAccount();
+            final String authority = syncPref.getAuthority();
+            if (TextUtils.isEmpty(authority)) {
+                return false;
+            }
+            final Account account = syncPref.getAccount();
             final int userId = mUserHandle.getIdentifier();
-            String packageName = syncPref.getPackageName();
+            final String packageName = syncPref.getPackageName();
 
             boolean syncAutomatically = ContentResolver.getSyncAutomaticallyAsUser(account,
                     authority, userId);
diff --git a/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettingsTest.java b/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettingsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..da361852ab1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/accounts/AccountSyncSettingsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 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.settings.accounts;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.accounts.Account;
+import android.app.Activity;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.UserHandle;
+import com.android.settings.testutils.SettingsRobolectricTestRunner;
+import com.android.settings.testutils.shadow.ShadowContentResolver;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.robolectric.RuntimeEnvironment;
+import org.robolectric.annotation.Config;
+import org.robolectric.util.ReflectionHelpers;
+
+@RunWith(SettingsRobolectricTestRunner.class)
+@Config(shadows = {ShadowContentResolver.class})
+public class AccountSyncSettingsTest {
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        ShadowContentResolver.reset();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void onPreferenceTreeClick_nullAuthority_shouldNotCrash() {
+        final Context context = RuntimeEnvironment.application;
+        final AccountSyncSettings settings = spy(new AccountSyncSettings());
+        when(settings.getActivity()).thenReturn(mock(Activity.class));
+        final SyncStateSwitchPreference preference = new SyncStateSwitchPreference(context,
+                new Account("acct1", "type1"), "" /* authority */, "testPackage", 1 /* uid */);
+        preference.setOneTimeSyncMode(false);
+        ReflectionHelpers.setField(settings, "mUserHandle", UserHandle.CURRENT);
+
+        settings.onPreferenceTreeClick(preference);
+        // no crash
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/testutils/shadow/ShadowContentResolver.java b/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/testutils/shadow/ShadowContentResolver.java
index 50c0330828a..928779b5c05 100644
--- a/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/testutils/shadow/ShadowContentResolver.java
+++ b/tests/robotests/src/com/android/settings/testutils/shadow/ShadowContentResolver.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import android.database.Cursor;
 import android.database.MatrixCursor;
 import android.net.Uri;
 import android.provider.SearchIndexablesContract;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
 import org.robolectric.annotation.Implementation;
 import org.robolectric.annotation.Implements;
 import org.robolectric.annotation.Resetter;
@@ -66,6 +67,14 @@ public class ShadowContentResolver {
         return sSyncAutomatically.containsKey(authority) ? sSyncAutomatically.get(authority) : true;
     }
 
+    @Implementation
+    public static void setSyncAutomaticallyAsUser(Account account, String authority, boolean sync,
+            int userId) {
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(authority)) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Authority must be non-empty");
+        }
+    }
+
     @Implementation
     public static boolean getMasterSyncAutomaticallyAsUser(int userId) {
         return sMasterSyncAutomatically.containsKey(userId)