diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index a019f9f..4fca2ee 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -9,31 +9,27 @@ let headers = {}
 RNBackgroundDownloaderEmitter.addListener('downloadProgress', events => {
   for (const event of events) {
     const task = tasksMap.get(event.id)
-    if (task)
-      task._onProgress(event.percent, event.written, event.total)
+    task?.onProgress(event.percent, event.written, event.total)
   }
 })
 
 RNBackgroundDownloaderEmitter.addListener('downloadComplete', ({ id, location }) => {
   const task = tasksMap.get(id)
-  if (task)
-    task._onDone({ location })
+  task?.onDone({ location })
 
   tasksMap.delete(id)
 })
 
 RNBackgroundDownloaderEmitter.addListener('downloadFailed', event => {
   const task = tasksMap.get(event.id)
-  if (task)
-    task._onError(event.error, event.errorcode)
+  task?.onError(event.error, event.errorcode)
 
   tasksMap.delete(event.id)
 })
 
 RNBackgroundDownloaderEmitter.addListener('downloadBegin', ({ id, expectedBytes, headers }) => {
   const task = tasksMap.get(id)
-  if (task)
-    task._onBegin({ expectedBytes, headers })
+  task?.onBegin({ expectedBytes, headers })
 })
 
 export function setHeaders (h = {}) {
diff --git a/lib/downloadTask.js b/lib/downloadTask.js
index 667caf6..cfa2bfa 100644
--- a/lib/downloadTask.js
+++ b/lib/downloadTask.js
@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@ import { NativeModules } from 'react-native'
 const { RNBackgroundDownloader } = NativeModules
 
 function validateHandler (handler) {
-  if (!(typeof handler === 'function'))
-    throw new TypeError(`[RNBackgroundDownloader] expected argument to be a function, got: ${typeof handler}`)
+  const type = typeof handler
+
+  if (type !== 'function')
+    throw new TypeError(`[RNBackgroundDownloader] expected argument to be a function, got: ${type}`)
 }
+
 export default class DownloadTask {
     state = 'PENDING'
     percent = 0
@@ -18,65 +21,60 @@ export default class DownloadTask {
       this.bytesWritten = taskInfo.bytesWritten ?? 0
       this.totalBytes = taskInfo.totalBytes ?? 0
 
-      if (this.#parseable(taskInfo.metadata))
-        this.metadata = JSON.parse(taskInfo.metadata)
+      this.metadata = this.tryParseJson(taskInfo.metadata)
 
       if (originalTask) {
-        this._beginHandler = originalTask._beginHandler
-        this._progressHandler = originalTask._progressHandler
-        this._doneHandler = originalTask._doneHandler
-        this._errorHandler = originalTask._errorHandler
+        this.beginHandler = originalTask.beginHandler
+        this.progressHandler = originalTask.progressHandler
+        this.doneHandler = originalTask.doneHandler
+        this.errorHandler = originalTask.errorHandler
       }
     }
 
     begin (handler) {
       validateHandler(handler)
-      this._beginHandler = handler
+      this.beginHandler = handler
       return this
     }
 
     progress (handler) {
       validateHandler(handler)
-      this._progressHandler = handler
+      this.progressHandler = handler
       return this
     }
 
     done (handler) {
       validateHandler(handler)
-      this._doneHandler = handler
+      this.doneHandler = handler
       return this
     }
 
     error (handler) {
       validateHandler(handler)
-      this._errorHandler = handler
+      this.errorHandler = handler
       return this
     }
 
-    _onBegin ({ expectedBytes, headers }) {
+    onBegin ({ expectedBytes, headers }) {
       this.state = 'DOWNLOADING'
-      if (this._beginHandler)
-        this._beginHandler({ expectedBytes, headers })
+      this?.beginHandler({ expectedBytes, headers })
     }
 
-    _onProgress (percent, bytesWritten, totalBytes) {
+    onProgress (percent, bytesWritten, totalBytes) {
       this.percent = percent
       this.bytesWritten = bytesWritten
       this.totalBytes = totalBytes
-      if (this._progressHandler)
-        this._progressHandler(percent, bytesWritten, totalBytes)
+      this?.progressHandler(percent, bytesWritten, totalBytes)
     }
 
-    _onDone ({ location }) {
+    onDone ({ location }) {
       this.state = 'DONE'
-      if (this._doneHandler)
-        this._doneHandler({ location })
+      this?.doneHandler({ location })
     }
 
-    _onError (error, errorCode) {
+    onError (error, errorCode) {
       this.state = 'FAILED'
-      if (this._errorHandler)
-        this._errorHandler(error, errorCode)
+      this?.errorHandler(error, errorCode)
     }
 
     pause () {
@@ -94,12 +92,14 @@ export default class DownloadTask {
       RNBackgroundDownloader.stopTask(this.id)
     }
 
-    #parseable = (element) => {
+    tryParseJson (element) {
       try {
-        JSON.parse(element)
-        return true
-      } catch (err) {
-        return false
+        if (element)
+          element = JSON.parse(element)
+        return element
+      } catch (e) {
+        console.warn('DownloadTask tryParseJson', e)
+        return null
       }
     }
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c9881bf..aa745d4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "react-native-background-downloader",
-  "version": "2.5.0",
+  "version": "2.5.1",
   "description": "A library for React-Native to help you download large files on iOS and Android both in the foreground and most importantly in the background.",
   "keywords": [
     "react-native",