diff --git a/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Manager.java b/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Manager.java
index 04198998..4f73450f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Manager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Manager.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import io.socket.thread.EventThread;
 import okhttp3.Call;
 import okhttp3.WebSocket;
+import org.json.JSONObject;
 
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.util.*;
@@ -562,11 +563,16 @@ public static class Options extends io.socket.engineio.client.Socket.Options {
         public double randomizationFactor;
         public Parser.Encoder encoder;
         public Parser.Decoder decoder;
-        public Map<String, String> auth;
+        public JSONObject auth;
 
         /**
          * Connection timeout (ms). Set -1 to disable.
          */
         public long timeout = 20000;
+
+        // helper method for easier migration from earlier versions
+        public void authMap(Map<String, String> authMap) {
+            this.auth = new JSONObject(authMap);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Socket.java b/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Socket.java
index 2227a30d..e7ef39fb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Socket.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/socket/client/Socket.java
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ public class Socket extends Emitter {
     private int ids;
     private final String nsp;
     private final Manager io;
-    private final Map<String, String> auth;
+    private final JSONObject auth;
     private final Map<Integer, Ack> acks = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
     private Queue<On.Handle> subs;
     private final Queue<List<Object>> receiveBuffer = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue<>();
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ private void onopen() {
         logger.fine("transport is open - connecting");
 
         if (this.auth != null) {
-            this.packet(new Packet<>(Parser.CONNECT, new JSONObject(this.auth)));
+            this.packet(new Packet<>(Parser.CONNECT, this.auth));
         } else {
             this.packet(new Packet<>(Parser.CONNECT));
         }