diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,13 +2,16 @@
 
 `http-directory` uses [PVP Versioning](https://pvp.haskell.org).
 
-## 0.1.2
+## 0.1.3 (2019-06-04)
+- add httpExists
+
+## 0.1.2 (2019-05-07)
 - add httpManager convenient function
 - print url when result not 200
 - add an example
 
-## 0.1.1
+## 0.1.1 (2019-04-14)
 - add httpLastModified
 
-## 0.1.0
+## 0.1.0 (2019-04-11)
 - initial release with httpDirectory, httpFileSize, and httpRedirect(s)
diff --git a/http-directory.cabal b/http-directory.cabal
--- a/http-directory.cabal
+++ b/http-directory.cabal
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 cabal-version:       1.18
 name:                http-directory
-version:             0.1.2
+version:             0.1.3
 synopsis:            http directory listing library
 description:
             Library for listing the files (links) in an http directory.
-            Also can check the size and modtime of files, and for url redirects.
+            Also can check the size, existence, modtime of files,
+            and url redirects.
 homepage:            https://github.com/juhp/http-directory
 bug-reports:         https://github.com/juhp/http-directory/issues
 license:             MIT
@@ -39,7 +40,8 @@
                        time,
                        xml-conduit
   if impl(ghc<8.0)
-      Build-depends: semigroups
+      build-depends: semigroups,
+                     cryptonite < 0.26
 
   ghc-options:         -fwarn-missing-signatures
                        -Wall
diff --git a/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs b/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
--- a/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
+++ b/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
@@ -6,11 +6,9 @@
 @
 import Network.HTTP.Directory
 import qualified Data.Text as T
-import Network.HTTP.Client (newManager)
-import Network.HTTP.Client.TLS (tlsManagerSettings)
 
 main = do
-  mgr <- newManager tlsManagerSettings
+  mgr <- httpManager
   files <- httpDirectory mgr "https://example.com/some/dir/"
   mapM_ T.putStrLn files
   httpFileSize mgr (head files) >>= print
@@ -20,6 +18,7 @@
 
 module Network.HTTP.Directory
        ( httpDirectory,
+         httpExists,
          httpFileSize,
          httpLastModified,
          httpManager,
@@ -38,11 +37,12 @@
 import Data.Time.Clock (UTCTime)
 
 import Network.HTTP.Client (hrRedirects, httpLbs, httpNoBody, Manager, method,
-                            newManager, parseRequest, responseBody,
-                            responseHeaders, responseOpenHistory, responseStatus)
+                            newManager, parseRequest,
+                            Request, Response, responseBody, responseHeaders,
+                            responseOpenHistory, responseStatus)
 import Network.HTTP.Client.TLS (tlsManagerSettings)
 import Network.HTTP.Date (httpDateToUTC, parseHTTPDate)
-import Network.HTTP.Types (hContentLength, hLocation, statusCode)
+import Network.HTTP.Types (hContentLength, hLocation, methodHead, statusCode)
 
 import Text.HTML.DOM (parseLBS)
 import Text.XML.Cursor
@@ -69,13 +69,20 @@
         cursor = fromDocument doc
     return $ concatMap (attribute "href") $ cursor $// element "a"
 
+-- | Test if an file (url) exists
+--
+-- @since 0.1.3
+httpExists :: Manager -> String -> IO Bool
+httpExists mgr url = do
+  response <- httpHead mgr url
+  return $ statusCode (responseStatus response) == 200
+
 -- | Try to get the filesize (Content-Length field) of an http file
 --
 -- Raises an error if the http request fails.
 httpFileSize :: Manager -> String -> IO (Maybe Integer)
 httpFileSize mgr url = do
-  request <- parseRequest url
-  response <- httpNoBody (request {method = "HEAD"}) mgr
+  response <- httpHead mgr url
   if statusCode (responseStatus response) /= 200
     then do
     putStrLn url
@@ -91,8 +98,7 @@
 -- @since 0.1.1
 httpLastModified :: Manager -> String -> IO (Maybe UTCTime)
 httpLastModified mgr url = do
-  request <- parseRequest url
-  response <- httpNoBody (request {method = "HEAD"}) mgr
+  response <- httpHead mgr url
   if statusCode (responseStatus response) /= 200
     then do
     putStrLn url
@@ -114,11 +120,26 @@
 -- (ie last redirect is listed first)
 httpRedirects :: Manager -> String -> IO [B.ByteString]
 httpRedirects mgr url = do
-  request <- parseRequest url
-  respHist <- responseOpenHistory (request {method = "HEAD"}) mgr
+  request <- parseRequestHead url
+  respHist <- responseOpenHistory request mgr
   return $ reverse $ mapMaybe (lookup hLocation . responseHeaders . snd) $ hrRedirects respHist
 
 -- | Return final redirect for an url
 httpRedirect :: Manager -> String -> IO (Maybe B.ByteString)
 httpRedirect mgr url =
   listToMaybe <$> httpRedirects mgr url
+
+-- parseRequest with HEAD
+--
+-- @since 0.1.3
+parseRequestHead :: String -> IO Request
+parseRequestHead url = do
+  request <- parseRequest url
+  return $ request {method = methodHead}
+
+-- @since 0.1.3
+httpHead :: Manager -> String -> IO (Response ())
+httpHead mgr url = do
+  request <- parseRequestHead url
+  httpNoBody request mgr
+