diff --git a/Examples/UIExplorer/WebViewExample.js b/Examples/UIExplorer/WebViewExample.js
index 41f6b4d1a..f8183b12b 100644
--- a/Examples/UIExplorer/WebViewExample.js
+++ b/Examples/UIExplorer/WebViewExample.js
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ var WebViewExample = React.createClass({
           url={this.state.url}
           javaScriptEnabledAndroid={true}
           onNavigationStateChange={this.onNavigationStateChange}
+          onShouldStartLoadWithRequest={this.onShouldStartLoadWithRequest}
           startInLoadingState={true}
           scalesPageToFit={this.state.scalesPageToFit}
         />
@@ -118,6 +119,11 @@ var WebViewExample = React.createClass({
     this.refs[WEBVIEW_REF].reload();
   },
 
+  onShouldStartLoadWithRequest: function(event) {
+    // Implement any custom loading logic here, don't forget to return!
+    return true;
+  },
+
   onNavigationStateChange: function(navState) {
     this.setState({
       backButtonEnabled: navState.canGoBack,
diff --git a/Libraries/Components/WebView/WebView.ios.js b/Libraries/Components/WebView/WebView.ios.js
index 6c7f5484d..9256c3c86 100644
--- a/Libraries/Components/WebView/WebView.ios.js
+++ b/Libraries/Components/WebView/WebView.ios.js
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ var WebView = React.createClass({
      * user can change the scale
      */
     scalesPageToFit: PropTypes.bool,
+
+    /**
+     * Allows custom handling of any webview requests by a JS handler. Return true
+     * or false from this method to continue loading the request.
+     */
+    onShouldStartLoadWithRequest: PropTypes.func,
   },
 
   getInitialState: function() {
@@ -158,6 +164,12 @@ var WebView = React.createClass({
       webViewStyles.push(styles.hidden);
     }
 
+    var onShouldStartLoadWithRequest = this.props.onShouldStartLoadWithRequest && ((event: Event) => {
+      var shouldStart = this.props.onShouldStartLoadWithRequest &&
+        this.props.onShouldStartLoadWithRequest(event.nativeEvent);
+      RCTWebViewManager.startLoadWithResult(!!shouldStart, event.nativeEvent.lockIdentifier);
+    });
+
     var webView =
       <RCTWebView
         ref={RCT_WEBVIEW_REF}
@@ -173,6 +185,7 @@ var WebView = React.createClass({
         onLoadingStart={this.onLoadingStart}
         onLoadingFinish={this.onLoadingFinish}
         onLoadingError={this.onLoadingError}
+        onShouldStartLoadWithRequest={onShouldStartLoadWithRequest}
         scalesPageToFit={this.props.scalesPageToFit}
       />;
 
diff --git a/React/Views/RCTWebView.h b/React/Views/RCTWebView.h
index fdb192a39..3d514dd47 100644
--- a/React/Views/RCTWebView.h
+++ b/React/Views/RCTWebView.h
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 #import "RCTView.h"
 
+@class RCTWebView;
+
 /**
  * Special scheme used to pass messages to the injectedJavaScript
  * code without triggering a page load. Usage:
@@ -17,8 +19,18 @@
  */
 extern NSString *const RCTJSNavigationScheme;
 
+@protocol RCTWebViewDelegate <NSObject>
+
+- (BOOL)webView:(RCTWebView *)webView
+shouldStartLoadForRequest:(NSMutableDictionary *)request
+   withCallback:(RCTDirectEventBlock)callback;
+
+@end
+
 @interface RCTWebView : RCTView
 
+@property (nonatomic, weak) id<RCTWebViewDelegate> delegate;
+
 @property (nonatomic, strong) NSURL *URL;
 @property (nonatomic, assign) UIEdgeInsets contentInset;
 @property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL automaticallyAdjustContentInsets;
diff --git a/React/Views/RCTWebView.m b/React/Views/RCTWebView.m
index 8b78f1bcf..2c35bc453 100644
--- a/React/Views/RCTWebView.m
+++ b/React/Views/RCTWebView.m
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ NSString *const RCTJSNavigationScheme = @"react-js-navigation";
 @property (nonatomic, copy) RCTDirectEventBlock onLoadingStart;
 @property (nonatomic, copy) RCTDirectEventBlock onLoadingFinish;
 @property (nonatomic, copy) RCTDirectEventBlock onLoadingError;
+@property (nonatomic, copy) RCTDirectEventBlock onShouldStartLoadWithRequest;
 
 @end
 
@@ -119,7 +120,7 @@ RCT_NOT_IMPLEMENTED(- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder)
 
 - (NSMutableDictionary *)baseEvent
 {
-  NSMutableDictionary *event = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary: @{
+  NSMutableDictionary *event = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:@{
     @"url": _webView.request.URL.absoluteString ?: @"",
     @"loading" : @(_webView.loading),
     @"title": [_webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"document.title"],
@@ -142,6 +143,22 @@ RCT_NOT_IMPLEMENTED(- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder)
 - (BOOL)webView:(__unused UIWebView *)webView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request
  navigationType:(UIWebViewNavigationType)navigationType
 {
+  BOOL isJSNavigation = [request.URL.scheme isEqualToString:RCTJSNavigationScheme];
+
+  // skip this for the JS Navigation handler
+  if (!isJSNavigation && _onShouldStartLoadWithRequest) {
+    NSMutableDictionary *event = [self baseEvent];
+    [event addEntriesFromDictionary: @{
+      @"url": (request.URL).absoluteString,
+      @"navigationType": @(navigationType)
+    }];
+    if (![self.delegate webView:self
+      shouldStartLoadForRequest:event
+                   withCallback:_onShouldStartLoadWithRequest]) {
+      return NO;
+    }
+  }
+
   if (_onLoadingStart) {
     // We have this check to filter out iframe requests and whatnot
     BOOL isTopFrame = [request.URL isEqual:request.mainDocumentURL];
@@ -156,13 +173,12 @@ RCT_NOT_IMPLEMENTED(- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder)
   }
 
   // JS Navigation handler
-  return ![request.URL.scheme isEqualToString:RCTJSNavigationScheme];
+  return !isJSNavigation;
 }
 
 - (void)webView:(__unused UIWebView *)webView didFailLoadWithError:(NSError *)error
 {
   if (_onLoadingError) {
-
     if ([error.domain isEqualToString:NSURLErrorDomain] && error.code == NSURLErrorCancelled) {
       // NSURLErrorCancelled is reported when a page has a redirect OR if you load
       // a new URL in the WebView before the previous one came back. We can just
@@ -172,7 +188,7 @@ RCT_NOT_IMPLEMENTED(- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder)
     }
 
     NSMutableDictionary *event = [self baseEvent];
-    [event addEntriesFromDictionary: @{
+    [event addEntriesFromDictionary:@{
       @"domain": error.domain,
       @"code": @(error.code),
       @"description": error.localizedDescription,
@@ -185,8 +201,10 @@ RCT_NOT_IMPLEMENTED(- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder)
 {
   if (_injectedJavaScript != nil) {
     NSString *jsEvaluationValue = [webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:_injectedJavaScript];
+
     NSMutableDictionary *event = [self baseEvent];
-    [event addEntriesFromDictionary: @{@"jsEvaluationValue":jsEvaluationValue}];
+    event[@"jsEvaluationValue"] = jsEvaluationValue;
+
     _onLoadingFinish(event);
   }
   // we only need the final 'finishLoad' call so only fire the event when we're actually done loading.
diff --git a/React/Views/RCTWebViewManager.m b/React/Views/RCTWebViewManager.m
index 8779a970b..7512000b0 100644
--- a/React/Views/RCTWebViewManager.m
+++ b/React/Views/RCTWebViewManager.m
@@ -14,13 +14,22 @@
 #import "RCTUIManager.h"
 #import "RCTWebView.h"
 
-@implementation RCTWebViewManager
+@interface RCTWebViewManager () <RCTWebViewDelegate>
+
+@end
+
+@implementation RCTWebViewManager {
+  NSConditionLock *_shouldStartLoadLock;
+  BOOL _shouldStartLoad;
+}
 
 RCT_EXPORT_MODULE()
 
 - (UIView *)view
 {
-  return [RCTWebView new];
+  RCTWebView *webView = [RCTWebView new];
+  webView.delegate = self;
+  return webView;
 }
 
 RCT_REMAP_VIEW_PROPERTY(url, URL, NSURL);
@@ -34,6 +43,7 @@ RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY(automaticallyAdjustContentInsets, BOOL);
 RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY(onLoadingStart, RCTDirectEventBlock);
 RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY(onLoadingFinish, RCTDirectEventBlock);
 RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY(onLoadingError, RCTDirectEventBlock);
+RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY(onShouldStartLoadWithRequest, RCTDirectEventBlock);
 
 - (NSDictionary *)constantsToExport
 {
@@ -86,4 +96,38 @@ RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(reload:(nonnull NSNumber *)reactTag)
   }];
 }
 
+#pragma mark - Exported synchronous methods
+
+- (BOOL)webView:(__unused RCTWebView *)webView
+shouldStartLoadForRequest:(NSMutableDictionary *)request
+   withCallback:(RCTDirectEventBlock)callback
+{
+  _shouldStartLoadLock = [[NSConditionLock alloc] initWithCondition:arc4random()];
+  _shouldStartLoad = YES;
+  request[@"lockIdentifier"] = @(_shouldStartLoadLock.condition);
+  callback(request);
+
+  // Block the main thread for a maximum of 250ms until the JS thread returns
+  if ([_shouldStartLoadLock lockWhenCondition:0 beforeDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:.25]]) {
+    BOOL returnValue = _shouldStartLoad;
+    [_shouldStartLoadLock unlock];
+    _shouldStartLoadLock = nil;
+    return returnValue;
+  } else {
+    RCTLogWarn(@"Did not receive response to shouldStartLoad in time, defaulting to YES");
+    return YES;
+  }
+}
+
+RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(startLoadWithResult:(BOOL)result lockIdentifier:(NSInteger)lockIdentifier)
+{
+  if ([_shouldStartLoadLock tryLockWhenCondition:lockIdentifier]) {
+    _shouldStartLoad = result;
+    [_shouldStartLoadLock unlockWithCondition:0];
+  } else {
+    RCTLogWarn(@"startLoadWithResult invoked with invalid lockIdentifier: "
+               "got %zd, expected %zd", lockIdentifier, _shouldStartLoadLock.condition);
+  }
+}
+
 @end