diff --git a/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSet.java b/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSet.java
index f72e07fce9..28e23da108 100644
--- a/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSet.java
+++ b/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSet.java
@@ -102,4 +102,12 @@ public final class BitSet {
   public int nextSetBit(int fromIndex) {
     return BitSetMethods.nextSetBit(baseObject, baseOffset, fromIndex, numWords);
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns {@code true} if any bit is set.
+   */
+  public boolean anySet() {
+    return BitSetMethods.anySet(baseObject, baseOffset, numWords);
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetMethods.java b/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetMethods.java
index f30626d8f4..0987191c1c 100644
--- a/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetMethods.java
+++ b/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetMethods.java
@@ -70,9 +70,10 @@ public final class BitSetMethods {
   /**
    * Returns {@code true} if any bit is set.
    */
-  public static boolean anySet(Object baseObject, long baseOffset, long bitSetWidthInBytes) {
-    for (int i = 0; i <= bitSetWidthInBytes; i++) {
-      if (PlatformDependent.UNSAFE.getByte(baseObject, baseOffset + i) != 0) {
+  public static boolean anySet(Object baseObject, long baseOffset, long bitSetWidthInWords) {
+    long addr = baseOffset;
+    for (int i = 0; i < bitSetWidthInWords; i++, addr += WORD_SIZE) {
+      if (PlatformDependent.UNSAFE.getLong(baseObject, addr) != 0) {
         return true;
       }
     }
diff --git a/unsafe/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetSuite.java b/unsafe/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetSuite.java
index e3a824e29b..18393db9f3 100644
--- a/unsafe/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetSuite.java
+++ b/unsafe/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/bitset/BitSetSuite.java
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ public class BitSetSuite {
     for (int i = 0; i < bs.capacity(); i++) {
       Assert.assertFalse(bs.isSet(i));
     }
+    // another form of asserting that the bit set is empty
+    Assert.assertFalse(bs.anySet());
 
     // Set every bit and check it.
     for (int i = 0; i < bs.capacity(); i++) {
@@ -52,6 +54,11 @@ public class BitSetSuite {
       bs.unset(i);
       Assert.assertFalse(bs.isSet(i));
     }
+
+    // Make sure anySet() can detect any set bit
+    bs = createBitSet(256);
+    bs.set(64);
+    Assert.assertTrue(bs.anySet());
   }
 
   @Test