diff --git a/src/widget_default.c b/src/widget_default.c
index 56cc33b..1ed1ed2 100644
--- a/src/widget_default.c
+++ b/src/widget_default.c
@@ -124,30 +124,23 @@ static void widget_default_mqtt_send(struct widget_t *w, void *ev_data) {
 //  LOG(LL_DEBUG, ("MQTT string: '%s'", (char *)w->user_data));
   // Traverse Array
   for (idx = 0; json_scanf_array_elem(w->user_data, strlen(w->user_data), "", idx, &val) > 0; idx++) {
-    char *t=NULL, *m=NULL;
-    uint16_t t_len=0, m_len=0;
-    char *topic;
+    char *topic, *message;
 
     LOG(LL_DEBUG, ("Index %d, token [%.*s]", idx, val.len, val.ptr));
-    t=(char*)val.ptr;
-    m=strstr(val.ptr, " ");
-    if (m-val.ptr <= val.len) {
-      t_len=m-t;
-      m++;
-      m_len=val.len-t_len-1;
-    } else {
-      t_len=val.len;
-      m_len=0;
-      m=NULL;
+    if (val.len==0) {
+      LOG(LL_ERROR, ("mqtt element %d is empty token", idx));
+      continue;
     }
-    if ((topic=malloc(t_len+1))) {
-      memcpy(topic, t, t_len);
-      topic[t_len]=0;
-      LOG(LL_INFO, ("Sending topic='%s', message='%.*s'", topic, m_len, m));
-      mgos_mqtt_pub(topic, m, m_len, 0, false);
-      free(topic);
-      widget_network_send();
+    if (json_scanf(val.ptr, val.len, "{topic:%Q, message:%Q}", &topic, &message) != 2) {
+      LOG(LL_ERROR, ("mqtt element %d ('%.*s'), required fields 'topic' and 'message'", idx, val.len, val.ptr));
+      continue;
     }
+    LOG(LL_INFO, ("Sending topic='%s', message='%s'", topic, message));
+    mgos_mqtt_pub(topic, message, strlen(message), 0, false);
+    widget_network_send();
+
+    if (topic) free(topic);
+    if (message) free(message);
   }
   (void) ev_data;
 }