diff --git a/Android.mk b/Android.mk
index 038daaa..c7998ac 100755
--- a/Android.mk
+++ b/Android.mk
@@ -71,9 +71,14 @@
     openrecoveryscript.cpp \
     tarWrite.c \
     twrpAdbBuFifo.cpp \
-    twrpApex.cpp \
     twrpRepacker.cpp
 
+ifeq ($(TW_EXCLUDE_APEX),)
+    LOCAL_SRC_FILES += twrpApex.cpp
+else
+    LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DTW_EXCLUDE_APEX
+endif
+
 LOCAL_STATIC_LIBRARIES += libavb libtwrpinstall libminadbd_services libinit
 LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += libfs_mgr
 LOCAL_C_INCLUDES += \
@@ -284,6 +289,9 @@
 ifeq ($(TW_INCLUDE_L_CRYPTO), true)
     TW_INCLUDE_CRYPTO := true
 endif
+ifneq ($(TW_ADDITIONAL_APEX_FILES),)
+    LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DTW_ADDITIONAL_APEX_FILES=$(TW_ADDITIONAL_APEX_FILES)
+endif
 ifeq ($(TW_INCLUDE_CRYPTO), true)
     LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DTW_INCLUDE_CRYPTO -DUSE_FSCRYPT -Wno-macro-redefined
     LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += libcryptfsfde
diff --git a/partitionmanager.cpp b/partitionmanager.cpp
index 9a30249..158d916 100755
--- a/partitionmanager.cpp
+++ b/partitionmanager.cpp
@@ -292,6 +292,9 @@
 			if (ven) {
 				ven->Mount(true);
 			}
+#ifdef TW_EXCLUDE_APEX
+			LOGINFO("Apex is disabled in this build\n");
+#else
 			twrpApex apex;
 			if (!apex.loadApexImages()) {
 				LOGERR("Unable to load apex images from %s\n", APEX_DIR);
@@ -300,6 +303,7 @@
 				property_set("twrp.apex.loaded", "true");
 			}
 			TWFunc::check_and_run_script("/sbin/resyncapex.sh", "apex");
+#endif
 		}
 	}
 #ifndef USE_VENDOR_LIBS
diff --git a/twrpApex.cpp b/twrpApex.cpp
index 52dd9e5..45e3e30 100755
--- a/twrpApex.cpp
+++ b/twrpApex.cpp
@@ -1,21 +1,44 @@
 #include "twrpApex.hpp"
 #include "twrp-functions.hpp"
+#include "common.h"
 
 namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
 bool twrpApex::loadApexImages() {
 	std::vector<std::string> apexFiles;
+	std::vector<std::string> checkApexFlatFiles;
+#ifdef TW_ADDITIONAL_APEX_FILES
+	char* additionalFiles = strdup(EXPAND(TW_ADDITIONAL_APEX_FILES));
+	char* additionalApexFiles = std::strtok(additionalFiles, " ");
+#endif
+
+	apexFiles.push_back(APEX_DIR "/com.android.apex.cts.shim.apex");
+	apexFiles.push_back(APEX_DIR "/com.google.android.tzdata2.apex");
+	apexFiles.push_back(APEX_DIR "/com.android.tzdata.apex");
+	apexFiles.push_back(APEX_DIR "/com.android.art.release.apex");
+	apexFiles.push_back(APEX_DIR "/com.google.android.media.swcodec.apex");
+	apexFiles.push_back(APEX_DIR "/com.android.media.swcodec.apex");
+
+#ifdef TW_ADDITIONAL_APEX_FILES
+	while(additionalApexFiles) {
+		std::stringstream apexFile;
+		apexFile << APEX_DIR << "/" << additionalApexFiles;
+		apexFiles.push_back(apexFile.str());
+		additionalApexFiles = std::strtok(nullptr, " ");
+	}
+#endif
+
 	if (access(APEX_DIR, F_OK) != 0) {
 		LOGERR("Unable to open %s\n", APEX_DIR);
 		return false;
 	}
 	for (const auto& entry : fs::directory_iterator(APEX_DIR)) {
 	   if (entry.is_regular_file()) {
-		   apexFiles.push_back(entry.path().string());
+		   checkApexFlatFiles.push_back(entry.path().string());
 	   }
 	}
 
-	if (apexFiles.size() == 0) {
+	if (checkApexFlatFiles.size() == 0) {
 		// flattened apex directory
 		LOGINFO("Bind mounting flattened apex directory\n");
 		if (mount(APEX_DIR, APEX_BASE, "", MS_BIND, NULL) < 0) {
@@ -36,9 +59,8 @@
 	ZipArchiveHandle handle;
 	int32_t ret = OpenArchive(file.c_str(), &handle);
 	if (ret != 0) {
-		LOGERR("unable to open zip archive %s\n", file.c_str());
-		CloseArchive(handle);
-		return nullptr;
+		LOGINFO("unable to open zip archive %s. Reason: %s\n", file.c_str(), strerror(errno));
+		return std::string();
 	}
 
 	ZipEntry entry;
@@ -47,7 +69,7 @@
 	if (ret != 0) {
 		LOGERR("unable to find %s in zip\n", APEX_PAYLOAD);
 		CloseArchive(handle);
-		return nullptr;
+		return std::string();
 	}
 
 	std::string baseFile = basename(file.c_str());
@@ -59,7 +81,7 @@
 		LOGERR("unable to extract %s\n", path.c_str());
 		close(fd);
 		CloseArchive(handle);
-		return nullptr;
+		return std::string();
 	}
 
 	CloseArchive(handle);
@@ -87,6 +109,10 @@
 			}
 		}
 		std::string fileToMount = unzipImage(apexFile);
+		if (fileToMount.empty()) {
+			LOGINFO("Skipping non-existent apex file: %s\n", apexFile.c_str());
+			continue;
+		}
 		bool load_result = loadApexImage(fileToMount, device_no);
 		if (!load_result) {
 			return false;
@@ -114,7 +140,8 @@
 	}
 
 	if (ioctl(loop_fd, LOOP_SET_FD, fd) < 0) {
-		LOGERR("failed to mount %s to loop device %s\n", fileToMount.c_str(), loop_device.c_str());
+		LOGERR("failed to mount %s to loop device %s. Reason: %s\n", fileToMount.c_str(), loop_device.c_str(), 
+			strerror(errno));
 		close(fd);
 		close(loop_fd);
 		return false;
diff --git a/twrpApex.hpp b/twrpApex.hpp
index f42ed8a..edd1d5f 100755
--- a/twrpApex.hpp
+++ b/twrpApex.hpp
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 #include <filesystem>
+#include <sstream>
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>