diff --git a/micropython/umqtt.simple/manifest.py b/micropython/umqtt.simple/manifest.py
index 45f9edfbd..709a27505 100644
--- a/micropython/umqtt.simple/manifest.py
+++ b/micropython/umqtt.simple/manifest.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-metadata(description="Lightweight MQTT client for MicroPython.", version="1.5.0")
+metadata(description="Lightweight MQTT client for MicroPython.", version="1.6.0")
 
 # Originally written by Paul Sokolovsky.
 
+require("ssl")
+
 package("umqtt")
diff --git a/micropython/umqtt.simple/umqtt/simple.py b/micropython/umqtt.simple/umqtt/simple.py
index 2a5b91655..d9cdffc47 100644
--- a/micropython/umqtt.simple/umqtt/simple.py
+++ b/micropython/umqtt.simple/umqtt/simple.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ def __init__(
         password=None,
         keepalive=0,
         ssl=None,
+        ssl_params={},
     ):
         if port == 0:
             port = 8883 if ssl else 1883
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.server = server
         self.port = port
         self.ssl = ssl
+        self.ssl_params = ssl_params
         self.pid = 0
         self.cb = None
         self.user = user
@@ -65,7 +67,12 @@ def connect(self, clean_session=True, timeout=None):
         self.sock.settimeout(timeout)
         addr = socket.getaddrinfo(self.server, self.port)[0][-1]
         self.sock.connect(addr)
-        if self.ssl:
+        if self.ssl is True:
+            # Legacy support for ssl=True and ssl_params arguments.
+            import ssl
+
+            self.sock = ssl.wrap_socket(self.sock, **self.ssl_params)
+        elif self.ssl:
             self.sock = self.ssl.wrap_socket(self.sock, server_hostname=self.server)
         premsg = bytearray(b"\x10\0\0\0\0\0")
         msg = bytearray(b"\x04MQTT\x04\x02\0\0")