diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5b64230f..a452ea62 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ if(APPLE)
     message(STATUS "Configure macos platform module")
 endif()
 
+
 if (UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
     add_subdirectory(linux)
     message(STATUS "Configure linux platform module")
-endif()
\ No newline at end of file
+endif()
diff --git a/shared/cc/StringUTF16.cc b/shared/cc/StringUTF16.cc
index a3b54b56..2fc240e5 100644
--- a/shared/cc/StringUTF16.cc
+++ b/shared/cc/StringUTF16.cc
@@ -70,14 +70,16 @@ jwm::StringUTF16::StringUTF16(const uint32_t *str) {
 }
 
 jwm::JNILocal<jstring> jwm::StringUTF16::toJString(JNIEnv* env) const {
-    return jwm::JNILocal<jstring>(env, env->NewString(c_str(), static_cast<jsize>(length())));
+    return jwm::JNILocal<jstring>(env, env->NewString(reinterpret_cast<const jchar*>(c_str()), static_cast<jsize>(length())));
 }
 
 jwm::StringUTF16 jwm::StringUTF16::makeFromJString(JNIEnv* env, jstring js) {
     jwm::StringUTF16 result;
     jsize length = env->GetStringLength(js);
     const jchar* chars = env->GetStringChars(js, nullptr);
-    result = jwm::StringUTF16(chars, length);
+
+    const char16_t* signed_chars = reinterpret_cast<const char16_t*>(chars);
+    result = jwm::StringUTF16(signed_chars, length);
     env->ReleaseStringChars(js, chars);
     return result;
 }
diff --git a/shared/cc/StringUTF16.hh b/shared/cc/StringUTF16.hh
index cf58976a..e2ebeae6 100644
--- a/shared/cc/StringUTF16.hh
+++ b/shared/cc/StringUTF16.hh
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ namespace jwm
     /**
      * @brief std::string which uses jchar as a character type
      */
-    class StringUTF16: public std::basic_string<jchar> {
+    class StringUTF16: public std::basic_string<char16_t> {
     public:
-        using std::basic_string<jchar>::basic_string;
+        using std::basic_string<char16_t>::basic_string;
 
         /**
          * Constructs StringUTF16 from C style string.