diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2351a13..7001eb7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Master
+
+* Robustness against string keys.  
+  [Fabio Pelosin](https://github.com/irrationalfab)
+  [#25](https://github.com/CocoaPods/cocoapods-downloader/issues/25)
+
 ## 0.6.0
 
 ###### Enhancements
diff --git a/lib/cocoapods-downloader.rb b/lib/cocoapods-downloader.rb
index 08d7ee0..7895fc0 100644
--- a/lib/cocoapods-downloader.rb
+++ b/lib/cocoapods-downloader.rb
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ def self.strategy_from_options(options)
     #         global options for the Downloader cache?
     #
     def self.for_target(target_path, options)
+      options = Hash[options.map{ |k, v| [k.to_sym, v] }]
+
       if target_path.nil?
         raise DownloaderError, 'No target path provided.'
       end
diff --git a/lib/cocoapods-downloader/http.rb b/lib/cocoapods-downloader/http.rb
index 90139c0..4d21ff0 100644
--- a/lib/cocoapods-downloader/http.rb
+++ b/lib/cocoapods-downloader/http.rb
@@ -30,7 +30,11 @@ def download_head!
       end
 
       def type
-        options[:type] || type_with_url(url)
+        if options[:type]
+          options[:type].to_sym
+        else
+          type_with_url(url)
+        end
       end
 
       # @note   The archive is flattened if it contains only one folder and its
diff --git a/spec/cocoapods-downloaders_spec.rb b/spec/cocoapods-downloaders_spec.rb
index 492aa25..9bc05d3 100644
--- a/spec/cocoapods-downloaders_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/cocoapods-downloaders_spec.rb
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ module Downloader
       end
 
       describe '::for_target' do
+
         it 'returns the Git downloader' do
           concrete = @subject.for_target(tmp_folder, :git => 'url')
           concrete.class.should == @subject::Git
@@ -69,6 +70,15 @@ module Downloader
           concrete = @subject.for_target(tmp_folder, :git => 'url')
           concrete.url.should == 'url'
         end
+
+
+        it 'converts the keys of the options to symbols' do
+          options = {'http' => 'url', 'type' => 'zip'}
+          concrete = @subject.for_target(tmp_folder, options)
+          concrete.class.should == @subject::Http
+          concrete.options.should == {:type=>"zip"}
+        end
+
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/http_spec.rb b/spec/http_spec.rb
index 0938213..3c79f56 100644
--- a/spec/http_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/http_spec.rb
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ module Downloader
         Dir.glob(tmp_folder + '*').count.should == 8 + 1 + 1
       end
 
+      # TODO: slow 90.6 s
       it 'moves unpacked contents to parent dir when archive contains only a folder (#727)' do
         downloader = Downloader.for_target(tmp_folder,
                                            :http => 'http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.0a.tar.gz'
@@ -61,12 +62,14 @@ module Downloader
         lambda { downloader.download }.should.raise DownloaderError
       end
 
+      # TODO: slow 109.7 s
       it 'should verify that the downloaded file matches a sha1 hash' do
         options = { :http => 'https://testflightapp.com/media/sdk-downloads/TestFlightSDK1.0.zip', :sha1 => 'fb62ffebfaa5b722fc50f09458aacf617a5b0177' }
         downloader = Downloader.for_target(tmp_folder, options)
         lambda { downloader.download }.should.not.raise DownloaderError
       end
 
+      # TODO: slow 88.1 s
       it 'should fail if the sha1 hash does not match' do
         options = { :http => 'https://testflightapp.com/media/sdk-downloads/TestFlightSDK1.0.zip', :sha1 => 'invalid_sha1_hash' }
         downloader = Downloader.for_target(tmp_folder, options)
@@ -143,6 +146,11 @@ module Downloader
         lambda { downloader.download }.should.raise Http::UnsupportedFileTypeError
       end
 
+      it 'detects the file type if specified with a string' do
+        options = { :http => 'https://file', :type => 'zip' }
+        downloader = Downloader.for_target(tmp_folder, options)
+        downloader.send(:type).should == :zip
+      end
     end
   end
 end