diff --git a/bit-protocol.cabal b/bit-protocol.cabal
--- a/bit-protocol.cabal
+++ b/bit-protocol.cabal
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 --
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 --
--- hash: c8084713be489e1d73baae68e5a9c777a86d8df4dd818e9bc3b0c5b6cfe470a0
+-- hash: 51fcbce5462295f23a2a6b98b1433cfbb27309fa7ed82d1e05c71d43b12a0b52
 
 name:           bit-protocol
-version:        0.2.0.0
+version:        0.2.1.0
 synopsis:       Encode binary protocols with some odd bit numbers into a bytestring
 description:    Encode binary protocols with some odd bit numbers into a bytestring.
 category:       Data, Parsing, Bits, Bytes, Protocols
diff --git a/src/Data/BitProtocol.hs b/src/Data/BitProtocol.hs
--- a/src/Data/BitProtocol.hs
+++ b/src/Data/BitProtocol.hs
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
   ( BitsVal(..)
   , encodeBS8
   , parseBS8
+  -- * helpers / nice things to have
+  , numberToBits
   -- * internal
   , bitsValBiggerToCharUnsafe
   , word8sToIntegral
@@ -160,3 +162,11 @@
           (chunk, rest) = BL.splitAt (fromIntegral bytesNeeded) inp
           (bv, bvLeftover) = readBitValue x bvInp chunk
        in go xs bvLeftover rest (DL.snoc acc bv)
+
+-- | Convert a number into a list of bools describing every bit.
+numberToBits :: (Integral a, Bits a) => BitsVal a -> [Bool]
+numberToBits (BitsVal len val) =
+  map getBit [1..len']
+  where
+    len' = fromIntegral len
+    getBit i = testBit val (len' - i)
diff --git a/test/tests.hs b/test/tests.hs
--- a/test/tests.hs
+++ b/test/tests.hs
@@ -193,6 +193,8 @@
             bitNums = map bvBitsNum xs
             (res, _, _) = parseBS8 bitNums (encodeBS8 xs)
          in res == xs
+    , testCase "numberToBits simple" $ do
+        numberToBits (BitsVal 6 (0b010110::Int)) @?= [False, True, False, True, True, False]
     ]
 
 main :: IO ()