diff --git a/kivy/app.py b/kivy/app.py
index f31d8f2fb..1a296abd9 100644
--- a/kivy/app.py
+++ b/kivy/app.py
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ class App(EventDispatcher):
     _running_app = None
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        App._running_app = self
         self._app_directory = None
         self._app_name = None
         self._app_settings = None
@@ -537,7 +538,6 @@ class App(EventDispatcher):
                 window.set_icon(icon)
             self._install_settings_keys(window)
 
-        App._running_app = self
         self.dispatch('on_start')
         runTouchApp()
         self.dispatch('on_stop')
diff --git a/kivy/lang.py b/kivy/lang.py
index fbde40844..10cdd2157 100644
--- a/kivy/lang.py
+++ b/kivy/lang.py
@@ -475,6 +475,51 @@ lang_key = re.compile('([a-zA-Z_]+)')
 lang_keyvalue = re.compile('([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_.]*\.[a-zA-Z0-9_.]+)')
 
 
+class ProxyApp(object):
+    # proxy app object
+    # taken from http://code.activestate.com/recipes/496741-object-proxying/
+
+    __slots__ = ['_obj']
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        object.__init__(self)
+        object.__setattr__(self, '_obj', None)
+
+    def _ensure_app(self):
+        app = object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj')
+        if app is None:
+            from kivy.app import App
+            app = App.get_running_app()
+            object.__setattr__(self, '_obj', app)
+        return app
+
+    def __getattribute__(self, name):
+        object.__getattribute__(self, '_ensure_app')()
+        return getattr(object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj'), name)
+
+    def __delattr__(self, name):
+        object.__getattribute__(self, '_ensure_app')()
+        delattr(object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj'), name)
+
+    def __setattr__(self, name, value):
+        object.__getattribute__(self, '_ensure_app')()
+        setattr(object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj'), name, value)
+
+    def __nonzero__(self):
+        object.__getattribute__(self, '_ensure_app')()
+        return bool(object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj'))
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        object.__getattribute__(self, '_ensure_app')()
+        return str(object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj'))
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        object.__getattribute__(self, '_ensure_app')()
+        return repr(object.__getattribute__(self, '_obj'))
+
+global_idmap['app'] = ProxyApp()
+
+
 class ParserException(Exception):
     '''Exception raised when something wrong happened in a kv file.
     '''