diff --git a/py/misc.h b/py/misc.h
index 5d557db6fe..a14bef7fe6 100644
--- a/py/misc.h
+++ b/py/misc.h
@@ -121,8 +121,15 @@ typedef uint32_t unichar;
 typedef uint unichar;
 #endif
 
+#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
 unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s);
 const byte *utf8_next_char(const byte *s);
+size_t utf8_charlen(const byte *str, size_t len);
+#else
+static inline unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s) { return *s; }
+static inline const byte *utf8_next_char(const byte *s) { return s + 1; }
+static inline size_t utf8_charlen(const byte *str, size_t len) { (void)str; return len; }
+#endif
 
 bool unichar_isspace(unichar c);
 bool unichar_isalpha(unichar c);
@@ -135,7 +142,6 @@ bool unichar_islower(unichar c);
 unichar unichar_tolower(unichar c);
 unichar unichar_toupper(unichar c);
 mp_uint_t unichar_xdigit_value(unichar c);
-mp_uint_t unichar_charlen(const char *str, mp_uint_t len);
 #define UTF8_IS_NONASCII(ch) ((ch) & 0x80)
 #define UTF8_IS_CONT(ch) (((ch) & 0xC0) == 0x80)
 
diff --git a/py/modbuiltins.c b/py/modbuiltins.c
index e6f82df6f4..6b8886804b 100644
--- a/py/modbuiltins.c
+++ b/py/modbuiltins.c
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t mp_builtin_ord(mp_obj_t o_in) {
     const char *str = mp_obj_str_get_data(o_in, &len);
     #if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
     if (MP_OBJ_IS_STR(o_in)) {
-        len = unichar_charlen(str, len);
+        len = utf8_charlen((const byte*)str, len);
         if (len == 1) {
             return mp_obj_new_int(utf8_get_char((const byte*)str));
         }
diff --git a/py/objstr.c b/py/objstr.c
index 30153813da..ed9ab4e45b 100644
--- a/py/objstr.c
+++ b/py/objstr.c
@@ -1704,7 +1704,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t str_count(size_t n_args, const mp_obj_t *args) {
 
     // if needle_len is zero then we count each gap between characters as an occurrence
     if (needle_len == 0) {
-        return MP_OBJ_NEW_SMALL_INT(unichar_charlen((const char*)start, end - start) + 1);
+        return MP_OBJ_NEW_SMALL_INT(utf8_charlen(start, end - start) + 1);
     }
 
     // count the occurrences
diff --git a/py/objstrunicode.c b/py/objstrunicode.c
index a1f54b8a21..badb569d79 100644
--- a/py/objstrunicode.c
+++ b/py/objstrunicode.c
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t uni_unary_op(mp_unary_op_t op, mp_obj_t self_in) {
         case MP_UNARY_OP_BOOL:
             return mp_obj_new_bool(str_len != 0);
         case MP_UNARY_OP_LEN:
-            return MP_OBJ_NEW_SMALL_INT(unichar_charlen((const char *)str_data, str_len));
+            return MP_OBJ_NEW_SMALL_INT(utf8_charlen(str_data, str_len));
         default:
             return MP_OBJ_NULL; // op not supported
     }
diff --git a/py/unicode.c b/py/unicode.c
index 140b7ba712..935dc9012e 100644
--- a/py/unicode.c
+++ b/py/unicode.c
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ STATIC const uint8_t attr[] = {
     AT_LO, AT_LO, AT_LO, AT_PR, AT_PR, AT_PR, AT_PR, 0
 };
 
-// TODO: Rename to str_get_char
-unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s) {
 #if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
+
+unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s) {
     unichar ord = *s++;
     if (!UTF8_IS_NONASCII(ord)) return ord;
     ord &= 0x7F;
@@ -80,22 +80,14 @@ unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s) {
         ord = (ord << 6) | (*s++ & 0x3F);
     }
     return ord;
-#else
-    return *s;
-#endif
 }
 
-// TODO: Rename to str_next_char
 const byte *utf8_next_char(const byte *s) {
-#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
     ++s;
     while (UTF8_IS_CONT(*s)) {
         ++s;
     }
     return s;
-#else
-    return s + 1;
-#endif
 }
 
 mp_uint_t utf8_ptr_to_index(const byte *s, const byte *ptr) {
@@ -109,21 +101,18 @@ mp_uint_t utf8_ptr_to_index(const byte *s, const byte *ptr) {
     return i;
 }
 
-// TODO: Rename to str_charlen
-mp_uint_t unichar_charlen(const char *str, mp_uint_t len) {
-#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
-    mp_uint_t charlen = 0;
-    for (const char *top = str + len; str < top; ++str) {
+size_t utf8_charlen(const byte *str, size_t len) {
+    size_t charlen = 0;
+    for (const byte *top = str + len; str < top; ++str) {
         if (!UTF8_IS_CONT(*str)) {
             ++charlen;
         }
     }
     return charlen;
-#else
-    return len;
-#endif
 }
 
+#endif
+
 // Be aware: These unichar_is* functions are actually ASCII-only!
 bool unichar_isspace(unichar c) {
     return c < 128 && (attr[c] & FL_SPACE) != 0;
@@ -183,6 +172,8 @@ mp_uint_t unichar_xdigit_value(unichar c) {
     return n;
 }
 
+#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
+
 bool utf8_check(const byte *p, size_t len) {
     uint8_t need = 0;
     const byte *end = p + len;
@@ -210,3 +201,5 @@ bool utf8_check(const byte *p, size_t len) {
     }
     return need == 0; // no pending fragments allowed
 }
+
+#endif