diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ab9ebe68a8..78ab884027 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,25 @@
   ```
 
   More information about the new setup [can be found here](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/react-native/manual-setup/manual-setup/).
+- Add `SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD` flag ([#3323](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-react-native/pull/3323))
+
+  How to use in Android project? It works by default, just set `export SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD=true` in your build environment. For Sentry Android Gradle Plugin add the following to your `android/app/build.gradle`.
+
+  ```gradle
+  apply from: "../../../sentry.gradle"
+
+  sentry {
+      autoUploadProguardMapping = shouldSentryAutoUpload()
+      uploadNativeSymbols = shouldSentryAutoUpload()
+  }
+  ```
+
+  How to use in Xcode? Make sure you are using `scripts/sentry-xcode.sh` and `scripts/sentry-xcode-debug-files.sh` in your
+  build phases. And add the following to your `ios/.xcode.env.local` file.
+
+  ```bash
+  export SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD=true
+  ```
 
 ### Fixes
 
diff --git a/sample-new-architecture/android/app/build.gradle b/sample-new-architecture/android/app/build.gradle
index 4f753e08bb..374e689c08 100644
--- a/sample-new-architecture/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/sample-new-architecture/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -2,12 +2,31 @@ apply plugin: "com.android.application"
 apply plugin: "com.facebook.react"
 apply plugin: "io.sentry.android.gradle"
 
+project.ext.sentryCli = [
+    collectModulesScript: "../../../dist/js/tools/collectModules.js",
+    modulesPaths: [
+      "node_modules",
+      "../..",
+    ],
+    skipCollectModules: false,
+    copyDebugIdScript: "../../../scripts/copy-debugid.js",
+    hasSourceMapDebugIdScript: "../../../scripts/has-sourcemap-debugid.js",
+]
+
+apply from: "../../../sentry.gradle"
+
 sentry {
+    // Whether the plugin should attempt to auto-upload the mapping file to Sentry or not.
+    // If disabled the plugin will run a dry-run and just generate a UUID.
+    // The mapping file has to be uploaded manually via sentry-cli in this case.
+    // Default is enabled.
+    autoUploadProguardMapping = shouldSentryAutoUpload()
+
     // Disables or enables the automatic configuration of Native Symbols
     // for Sentry. This executes sentry-cli automatically so
     // you don't need to do it manually.
     // Default is disabled.
-    uploadNativeSymbols = true
+    uploadNativeSymbols = shouldSentryAutoUpload()
 
     // Does or doesn't include the source code of native code for Sentry.
     // This executes sentry-cli with the --include-sources param. automatically so
@@ -67,19 +86,6 @@ react {
     // hermesFlags = ["-O", "-output-source-map"]
 }
 
-project.ext.sentryCli = [
-    collectModulesScript: "../../../dist/js/tools/collectModules.js",
-    modulesPaths: [
-      "node_modules",
-      "../..",
-    ],
-    skipCollectModules: false,
-    copyDebugIdScript: "../../../scripts/copy-debugid.js",
-    hasSourceMapDebugIdScript: "../../../scripts/has-sourcemap-debugid.js",
-]
-
-apply from: "../../../sentry.gradle"
-
 /**
  * Set this to true to Run Proguard on Release builds to minify the Java bytecode.
  */
diff --git a/scripts/sentry-xcode-debug-files.sh b/scripts/sentry-xcode-debug-files.sh
index f2bae94741..73ab003f59 100755
--- a/scripts/sentry-xcode-debug-files.sh
+++ b/scripts/sentry-xcode-debug-files.sh
@@ -19,4 +19,9 @@ fi
 EXTRA_ARGS="$SENTRY_CLI_EXTRA_ARGS $SENTRY_CLI_DEBUG_FILES_UPLOAD_EXTRA_ARGS $INCLUDE_SOURCES_FLAG"
 
 UPLOAD_DEBUG_FILES="\"$SENTRY_CLI_EXECUTABLE\" debug-files upload $EXTRA_ARGS \"$DWARF_DSYM_FOLDER_PATH\""
-/bin/sh -c "$UPLOAD_DEBUG_FILES"
+
+if [ "$SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD" != true ]; then
+  /bin/sh -c "$UPLOAD_DEBUG_FILES"
+else
+  echo "SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD=true, skipping debug files upload"
+fi
diff --git a/scripts/sentry-xcode.sh b/scripts/sentry-xcode.sh
index abb5238f75..3fb0e68a6c 100755
--- a/scripts/sentry-xcode.sh
+++ b/scripts/sentry-xcode.sh
@@ -16,9 +16,14 @@ REACT_NATIVE_XCODE=$1
 [[ "$AUTO_RELEASE" != true ]] && [[ -z "$BUNDLE_COMMAND" || "$BUNDLE_COMMAND" != "ram-bundle" ]] && NO_AUTO_RELEASE="--no-auto-release"
 ARGS="$NO_AUTO_RELEASE $SENTRY_CLI_EXTRA_ARGS $SENTRY_CLI_RN_XCODE_EXTRA_ARGS"
 
-BUNDLE_REACT_NATIVE="\"$SENTRY_CLI_EXECUTABLE\" react-native xcode $ARGS \"$REACT_NATIVE_XCODE\""
+REACT_NATIVE_XCODE_WITH_SENTRY="\"$SENTRY_CLI_EXECUTABLE\" react-native xcode $ARGS \"$REACT_NATIVE_XCODE\""
 
-/bin/sh -c "$BUNDLE_REACT_NATIVE"
+if [ "$SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD" != true ]; then
+  /bin/sh -c "$REACT_NATIVE_XCODE_WITH_SENTRY"
+else
+  echo "SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD=true, skipping sourcemaps upload"
+  /bin/sh -c "$REACT_NATIVE_XCODE"
+fi
 
 [ -z "$SENTRY_COLLECT_MODULES" ] && SENTRY_COLLECT_MODULES="../../scripts/collect-modules.sh"
 
diff --git a/sentry.gradle b/sentry.gradle
index b7fea4e3d1..6389176ebf 100644
--- a/sentry.gradle
+++ b/sentry.gradle
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.condition.Os
 import java.util.regex.Matcher
 import java.util.regex.Pattern
 
+project.ext.shouldSentryAutoUpload = { ->
+  return System.getenv('SENTRY_DISABLE_AUTO_UPLOAD') != 'true'
+}
+
 def config = project.hasProperty("sentryCli") ? project.sentryCli : [];
 
 gradle.projectsEvaluated {
@@ -97,7 +101,8 @@ gradle.projectsEvaluated {
 
           /** Upload source map file to the sentry server via CLI call. */
           def cliTask = tasks.create(nameCliTask) {
-              description = "upload source maps to Sentry"
+              onlyIf { shouldSentryAutoUpload() }
+              description = "upload debug symbols to sentry"
               group = 'sentry.io'
 
               def extraArgs = []