diff --git a/ntex-io/CHANGES.md b/ntex-io/CHANGES.md
index 1b25b9ba..fe21394c 100644
--- a/ntex-io/CHANGES.md
+++ b/ntex-io/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changes
 
+## [0.1.11] - 2022-12-02
+
+* Expose IoRef::start_keepalive_timer() and IoRef::remove_keepalive_timer() methods
+
 ## [0.1.10] - 2022-10-31
 
 * Fix compilation errors in the openwrt environment #140
diff --git a/ntex-io/Cargo.toml b/ntex-io/Cargo.toml
index 5bf81a30..eff71a0e 100644
--- a/ntex-io/Cargo.toml
+++ b/ntex-io/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "ntex-io"
-version = "0.1.10"
+version = "0.1.11"
 authors = ["ntex contributors <team@ntex.rs>"]
 description = "Utilities for encoding and decoding frames"
 keywords = ["network", "framework", "async", "futures"]
diff --git a/ntex-io/src/dispatcher.rs b/ntex-io/src/dispatcher.rs
index ccebc942..7eacf784 100644
--- a/ntex-io/src/dispatcher.rs
+++ b/ntex-io/src/dispatcher.rs
@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@ where
 
     /// unregister keep-alive timer
     fn unregister_keepalive(&self) {
-        self.io.remove_keepalive_timer();
+        self.io.stop_keepalive_timer();
         self.ka_timeout.set(time::Duration::ZERO);
     }
 }
diff --git a/ntex-io/src/io.rs b/ntex-io/src/io.rs
index 8d087dc0..c86cfdb4 100644
--- a/ntex-io/src/io.rs
+++ b/ntex-io/src/io.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use ntex_util::{
 use super::filter::{Base, NullFilter};
 use super::seal::Sealed;
 use super::tasks::{ReadContext, WriteContext};
-use super::{timer, Filter, FilterFactory, Handle, IoStatusUpdate, IoStream, RecvError};
+use super::{Filter, FilterFactory, Handle, IoStatusUpdate, IoStream, RecvError};
 
 bitflags::bitflags! {
     pub struct Flags: u16 {
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ pub(crate) struct IoState {
     pub(super) handle: Cell<Option<Box<dyn Handle>>>,
     #[allow(clippy::box_collection)]
     pub(super) on_disconnect: Cell<Option<Box<Vec<LocalWaker>>>>,
-    keepalive: Cell<time::Instant>,
+    pub(super) keepalive: Cell<time::Instant>,
 }
 
 impl IoState {
@@ -344,25 +344,9 @@ impl<F> Io<F> {
     }
 
     #[inline]
-    /// Start keep-alive timer
-    pub fn start_keepalive_timer(&self, timeout: time::Duration) {
-        if self.flags().contains(Flags::KEEPALIVE) {
-            timer::unregister(self.0 .0.keepalive.get(), &self.0);
-        }
-        if !timeout.is_zero() {
-            log::debug!("start keep-alive timeout {:?}", timeout);
-            self.0 .0.insert_flags(Flags::KEEPALIVE);
-            self.0 .0.keepalive.set(timer::register(timeout, &self.0));
-        }
-    }
-
-    #[inline]
-    /// Remove keep-alive timer
+    #[doc(hidden)]
     pub fn remove_keepalive_timer(&self) {
-        if self.flags().contains(Flags::KEEPALIVE) {
-            log::debug!("unregister keep-alive timeout");
-            timer::unregister(self.0 .0.keepalive.get(), &self.0)
-        }
+        self.stop_keepalive_timer()
     }
 
     /// Get current io error
@@ -717,7 +701,7 @@ impl<F> Deref for Io<F> {
 
 impl<F> Drop for Io<F> {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        self.remove_keepalive_timer();
+        self.stop_keepalive_timer();
         if self.1.is_set() {
             log::trace!(
                 "io is dropped, force stopping io streams {:?}",
diff --git a/ntex-io/src/ioref.rs b/ntex-io/src/ioref.rs
index 82d518f9..e326e0d1 100644
--- a/ntex-io/src/ioref.rs
+++ b/ntex-io/src/ioref.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-use std::{any, fmt, hash, io};
+use std::{any, fmt, hash, io, time};
 
 use ntex_bytes::{BufMut, BytesVec, PoolRef};
 use ntex_codec::{Decoder, Encoder};
 
 use super::io::{Flags, IoRef, OnDisconnect};
-use super::{types, Filter};
+use super::{timer, types, Filter};
 
 impl IoRef {
     #[inline]
@@ -185,6 +185,28 @@ impl IoRef {
         })
     }
 
+    #[inline]
+    /// Start keep-alive timer
+    pub fn start_keepalive_timer(&self, timeout: time::Duration) {
+        if self.flags().contains(Flags::KEEPALIVE) {
+            timer::unregister(self.0.keepalive.get(), self);
+        }
+        if !timeout.is_zero() {
+            log::debug!("start keep-alive timeout {:?}", timeout);
+            self.0.insert_flags(Flags::KEEPALIVE);
+            self.0.keepalive.set(timer::register(timeout, self));
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    /// Stop keep-alive timer
+    pub fn stop_keepalive_timer(&self) {
+        if self.flags().contains(Flags::KEEPALIVE) {
+            log::debug!("unregister keep-alive timeout");
+            timer::unregister(self.0.keepalive.get(), self)
+        }
+    }
+
     #[inline]
     /// Notify when io stream get disconnected
     pub fn on_disconnect(&self) -> OnDisconnect {
diff --git a/ntex/Cargo.toml b/ntex/Cargo.toml
index bcde50b0..d54698f9 100644
--- a/ntex/Cargo.toml
+++ b/ntex/Cargo.toml
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ ntex-util = "0.1.18"
 ntex-bytes = "0.1.16"
 ntex-h2 = "0.1.5"
 ntex-rt = "0.4.6"
-ntex-io = "0.1.9"
+ntex-io = "0.1.11"
 ntex-tls = "0.1.5"
 ntex-tokio = { version = "0.1.3", optional = true }
 ntex-glommio = { version = "0.1.2", optional = true }