diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4a37500b9a..4a4eb745e7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Don't start a redundant UI interaction transaction when a transaction is already bound to the Scope ([#5491](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/issues/5491))
+  - Previously, `SentryGestureListener` always started a UI transaction and only afterwards skipped binding it to the Scope when a manually-bound transaction already existed, leaving the new transaction to be dropped as an idle transaction without children.
 - Fix potential NPE within `Scope.endSession()` ([#5657](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/5657))
 
 ### Performance
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListener.java b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListener.java
index 8caffedad9..61a32b675d 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListener.java
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListener.java
@@ -244,6 +244,21 @@ private void startTracing(final @NotNull UiElement target, final @NotNull Gestur
       }
     }
 
+    // if there's already a transaction bound to the Scope (e.g. started manually by the user), we
+    // skip starting a new UI transaction: it would never be bound to the Scope in applyScope, would
+    // gather no children, and would be dropped as an idle transaction without children
+    final @Nullable ITransaction[] boundTransaction = {null};
+    scopes.configureScope(scope -> boundTransaction[0] = scope.getTransaction());
+    if (boundTransaction[0] != null) {
+      options
+          .getLogger()
+          .log(
+              SentryLevel.DEBUG,
+              "Transaction won't be created for view with id: %s since there's already a transaction bound to the Scope.",
+              viewIdentifier);
+      return;
+    }
+
     // we can only bind to the scope if there's no running transaction
     final String name = getActivityName(activity) + "." + viewIdentifier;
     final String op = UI_ACTION + "." + getGestureType(eventType);
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListenerTracingTest.kt b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListenerTracingTest.kt
index fe994f4a82..9d7606bfe4 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListenerTracingTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/internal/gestures/SentryGestureListenerTracingTest.kt
@@ -160,6 +160,18 @@ class SentryGestureListenerTracingTest {
     sut.onSingleTapUp(fixture.event)
   }
 
+  @Test
+  fun `when a transaction is already bound to the Scope, does not start a new UI transaction`() {
+    val sut = fixture.getSut<View>()
+    val boundTransaction = SentryTracer(TransactionContext("bound", "op"), fixture.scopes)
+    whenever(fixture.scope.transaction).thenReturn(boundTransaction)
+
+    sut.onSingleTapUp(fixture.event)
+
+    verify(fixture.scopes, never()).startTransaction(any(), any<TransactionOptions>())
+    assertEquals(false, boundTransaction.isFinished)
+  }
+
   @Test
   fun `stopTracing remove transaction from scope`() {
     val sut = fixture.getSut<View>()