diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ module.exports = MailListener;
 function MailListener(options) {
   this.markSeen = !! options.markSeen;
   this.mailbox = options.mailbox || "INBOX";
-  this.searchFilter = options.searchFilter || "UNSEEN";
+  if ('string' === typeof options.searchFilter) {
+    this.searchFilter = [options.searchFilter];
+  } else {
+    this.searchFilter = options.searchFilter || ["UNSEEN"];
+  }
   this.fetchUnreadOnStart = !! options.fetchUnreadOnStart;
   this.mailParserOptions = options.mailParserOptions || {},
   this.imap = new Imap({
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ function imapMail() {
 
 function parseUnread() {
   var self = this;
-  this.imap.search([self.searchFilter], function(err, results) {
+  this.imap.search(self.searchFilter, function(err, results) {
     if (err) {
       self.emit('error', err);
     } else if (results.length > 0) {
SearchFilter now accepts array and string.

Undefined goes as default - “UNSEEN”