diff --git a/test/js-mocha-specs.js b/test/js-mocha-specs.js
index 47efd98..10bb23c 100644
--- a/test/js-mocha-specs.js
+++ b/test/js-mocha-specs.js
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ describe('Advanced HTTP www interface', function() {
   this.timeout(900000);
 
   beforeEach(() => {
+    // mocked btoa function (base 64 encoding strings)
+    global.btoa = decoded => new Buffer(decoded).toString('base64');
+
     mock('cordova/exec', noop);
     mock(`${PLUGIN_ID}.angular-integration`, { registerService: noop });
     mock(`${PLUGIN_ID}.cookie-handler`, {});
@@ -91,4 +94,9 @@ describe('Advanced HTTP www interface', function() {
 
     http.get('https://www.google.de/?gws_rd=ssl', {}, { myKey: 'myValue' }, noop, noop);
   });
+
+  it('sets basic authentication header correctly', () => {
+    http.useBasicAuth('name', 'pass');
+    http.headers['*'].Authorization.should.equal('Basic bmFtZTpwYXNz');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/www/advanced-http.js b/www/advanced-http.js
index 67e5b1d..37dfd84 100644
--- a/www/advanced-http.js
+++ b/www/advanced-http.js
@@ -151,8 +151,7 @@ var http = {
         return {'Authorization': 'Basic ' + b64EncodeUnicode(username + ':' + password)};
     },
     useBasicAuth: function (username, password) {
-        this.headers['*'] = this.headers['*'] || {};
-        this.headers['*'].Authorization = 'Basic ' + b64EncodeUnicode(username + ':' + password);
+        this.setHeader('*', 'Authorization', 'Basic ' + b64EncodeUnicode(username + ':' + password));
     },
     setHeader: function () {
         // this one is for being backward compatible