diff --git a/nativescript-core/ui/page/page-common.ts b/nativescript-core/ui/page/page-common.ts
index 6d69e32d4..96418f5d0 100644
--- a/nativescript-core/ui/page/page-common.ts
+++ b/nativescript-core/ui/page/page-common.ts
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ export class PageBase extends ContentView implements PageDefinition {
 
     public eachChildView(callback: (child: View) => boolean) {
         super.eachChildView(callback);
-        if (this.actionBar) {
+        if (this.hasActionBar) {
             callback(this.actionBar);
         }
     }
diff --git a/nativescript-core/ui/page/page.android.ts b/nativescript-core/ui/page/page.android.ts
index 39c77f415..715af532f 100644
--- a/nativescript-core/ui/page/page.android.ts
+++ b/nativescript-core/ui/page/page.android.ts
@@ -45,17 +45,30 @@ export class Page extends PageBase {
     @profile
     public onLoaded() {
         super.onLoaded();
-        if (this.actionBarHidden !== undefined) {
+        if (!this.hasActionBar && this.actionBarHidden !== true) {
+            // ensure actionBar is created
+            // but we only need to do that if the actionBarHidden is not hidden
+            this.actionBar = new ActionBar();
+        }
+        if (this.hasActionBar) {
             this.updateActionBar();
         }
     }
 
     private updateActionBar() {
-        this.actionBar.update();
+        // the test is actually to ensure the actionBar is created
+        // it will be created if not
+        if (this.actionBar) {
+            this.actionBar.update();
+        }
     }
 
     [actionBarHiddenProperty.setNative](value: boolean) {
-        this.updateActionBar();
+        // in case the actionBar is not created and actionBarHidden is changed to true
+        // the actionBar will be created by updateActionBar
+        if (!value || this.hasActionBar) {
+            this.updateActionBar();
+        }
     }
 
     [statusBarStyleProperty.getDefault](): { color: number, systemUiVisibility: number } {