diff --git a/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEngine.swift b/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEngine.swift
index 2a4e699..d2e6f56 100644
--- a/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEngine.swift
+++ b/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEngine.swift
@@ -517,13 +517,13 @@ public final class SocketEngine : NSObject, URLSessionDelegate, SocketEnginePoll
 
         switch type {
         case .message:
-            handleMessage(String(message.characters.dropFirst()))
+            handleMessage(String(message.dropFirst()))
         case .noop:
             handleNOOP()
         case .pong:
             handlePong(with: message)
         case .open:
-            handleOpen(openData: String(message.characters.dropFirst()))
+            handleOpen(openData: String(message.dropFirst()))
         case .close:
             handleClose(message)
         default:
diff --git a/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEnginePollable.swift b/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEnginePollable.swift
index a42493a..680f9cf 100644
--- a/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEnginePollable.swift
+++ b/Source/SocketIO/Engine/SocketEnginePollable.swift
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ extension SocketEnginePollable {
     }
 
     func parsePollingMessage(_ str: String) {
-        guard str.characters.count != 1 else { return }
+        guard str.count != 1 else { return }
 
         DefaultSocketLogger.Logger.log("Got poll message: \(str)", type: "SocketEnginePolling")