diff --git a/mobile/android/base/GeckoPreferences.java b/mobile/android/base/GeckoPreferences.java
index a867b240321f..9c02f7ac830d 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/GeckoPreferences.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/GeckoPreferences.java
@@ -676,9 +676,7 @@ public class GeckoPreferences
 
     // Initialize preferences by requesting the preference values from Gecko
     private int getGeckoPreferences(final PreferenceGroup screen, ArrayList<String> prefs) {
-        JSONArray jsonPrefs = new JSONArray(prefs);
-
-        return PrefsHelper.getPrefs(jsonPrefs, new PrefsHelper.PrefHandlerBase() {
+        return PrefsHelper.getPrefs(prefs, new PrefsHelper.PrefHandlerBase() {
             private Preference getField(String prefName) {
                 return screen.findPreference(prefName);
             }
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/PrefsHelper.java b/mobile/android/base/PrefsHelper.java
index d2a1538a4403..2e5211c38ab4 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/PrefsHelper.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/PrefsHelper.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import org.json.JSONObject;
 
 import android.util.Log;
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -40,6 +41,14 @@ public final class PrefsHelper {
         return getPrefs(prefs, callback);
     }
 
+    public static int getPrefs(ArrayList<String> prefNames, PrefHandler callback) {
+        JSONArray prefs = new JSONArray();
+        for (String p : prefNames) {
+            prefs.put(p);
+        }
+        return getPrefs(prefs, callback);
+    }
+
     public static int getPrefs(JSONArray prefNames, PrefHandler callback) {
         int requestId;
         synchronized (PrefsHelper.class) {