diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e7d0f3314..53569728a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ option(SENTRY_PIC "Build sentry (and dependent) libraries as position independen
 option(SENTRY_BUILD_TESTS "Build sentry-native tests" "${SENTRY_MAIN_PROJECT}")
 option(SENTRY_BUILD_EXAMPLES "Build sentry-native example(s)" "${SENTRY_MAIN_PROJECT}")
 
+option(SENTRY_LINK_PTHREAD "Link platform threads library" ON)
+if(SENTRY_LINK_PTHREAD)
+	find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
 if(MSVC)
 	option(SENTRY_BUILD_RUNTIMESTATIC "Build sentry-native with static runtime" OFF)
 endif()
@@ -340,19 +345,29 @@ if(WIN32)
 	endif()
 endif()
 
-if(LINUX)
-	option(SENTRY_LINK_PTHREAD "Link Sentry with pthread" ON)
-	if(SENTRY_LINK_PTHREAD)
-		target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE pthread)
-	endif()
-	target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE dl)
-	target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE rt)
-elseif(ANDROID)
-	target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE dl log)
-elseif(MSVC)
-	target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE dbghelp version)
-elseif(MINGW)
-	target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE dbghelp version)
+# handle platform libraries
+if(ANDROID)
+    set(_SENTRY_PLATFORM_LIBS "dl" "log")
+elseif(LINUX)
+    set(_SENTRY_PLATFORM_LIBS "dl" "rt")
+elseif(WIN32)
+    set(_SENTRY_PLATFORM_LIBS "dbghelp" "version")
+endif()
+
+# handle platform threads library
+if(SENTRY_LINK_PTHREAD)
+	list(APPEND _SENTRY_PLATFORM_LIBS "Threads::Threads")
+endif()
+
+# apply platform libraries to sentry library
+if(SENTRY_LIBRARY_TYPE STREQUAL "static")
+    target_link_libraries(sentry PUBLIC ${_SENTRY_PLATFORM_LIBS})
+else()
+    target_link_libraries(sentry PRIVATE ${_SENTRY_PLATFORM_LIBS})
+endif()
+
+# suppress some errors and warnings for MinGW target
+if(MINGW)
 	target_compile_options(sentry PRIVATE
 		-Wno-unused-variable
 		-Wno-unused-parameter
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 070d46e69..33fdae003 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ using `cmake -D BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF ..`.
   Enables linking with the static MSVC runtime. Has no effect if the compiler is not MSVC.
 
 - `SENTRY_LINK_PTHREAD` (Default: ON):
-  Links to the `pthread` library on unix targets.
+  Links platform threads library like `pthread` on unix targets.
 
 - `SENTRY_BUILD_FORCE32` (Default: OFF):
   Forces cross-compilation from 64-bit host to 32-bit target. Only has an effect on Linux.