diff --git a/src/api/baseapi.cpp b/src/api/baseapi.cpp
index 513225493..2a71576bf 100644
--- a/src/api/baseapi.cpp
+++ b/src/api/baseapi.cpp
@@ -701,9 +701,9 @@ Boxa *TessBaseAPI::GetConnectedComponents(Pixa **pixa) {
 Boxa *TessBaseAPI::GetComponentImages(PageIteratorLevel level, bool text_only, bool raw_image,
                                       const int raw_padding, Pixa **pixa, int **blockids,
                                       int **paraids) {
-  PageIterator *page_it = GetIterator();
+  /*non-const*/ std::unique_ptr</*non-const*/ PageIterator> page_it(GetIterator());
   if (page_it == nullptr) {
-    page_it = AnalyseLayout();
+    page_it.reset(AnalyseLayout());
   }
   if (page_it == nullptr) {
     return nullptr; // Failed.
@@ -783,7 +783,6 @@ Boxa *TessBaseAPI::GetComponentImages(PageIteratorLevel level, bool text_only, b
       ++component_index;
     }
   } while (page_it->Next(level));
-  delete page_it;
   return boxa;
 }
 
@@ -1236,12 +1235,8 @@ bool TessBaseAPI::ProcessPage(Pix *pix, int page_index, const char *filename,
 
   if (tesseract_->tessedit_pageseg_mode == PSM_AUTO_ONLY) {
     // Disabled character recognition
-    PageIterator *it = AnalyseLayout();
-
-    if (it == nullptr) {
+    if (! std::unique_ptr<const PageIterator>(AnalyseLayout())) {
       failed = true;
-    } else {
-      delete it;
     }
   } else if (tesseract_->tessedit_pageseg_mode == PSM_OSD_ONLY) {
     failed = FindLines() != 0;
@@ -1991,7 +1986,7 @@ bool TessBaseAPI::IsValidCharacter(const char *utf8_character) {
 // TODO(rays) Obsolete this function and replace with a more aptly named
 // function that returns image coordinates rather than tesseract coordinates.
 bool TessBaseAPI::GetTextDirection(int *out_offset, float *out_slope) {
-  PageIterator *it = AnalyseLayout();
+  const std::unique_ptr<const PageIterator> it(AnalyseLayout());
   if (it == nullptr) {
     return false;
   }
@@ -2008,7 +2003,6 @@ bool TessBaseAPI::GetTextDirection(int *out_offset, float *out_slope) {
   // textline's bounding box.
   int left, top, right, bottom;
   if (!it->BoundingBox(RIL_TEXTLINE, &left, &top, &right, &bottom)) {
-    delete it;
     return false;
   }
   int left_y = IntCastRounded(*out_slope * left + *out_offset);
@@ -2021,7 +2015,6 @@ bool TessBaseAPI::GetTextDirection(int *out_offset, float *out_slope) {
   // the slope and height - offset for the offset.
   *out_slope = -*out_slope;
   *out_offset = rect_height_ - *out_offset;
-  delete it;
 
   return true;
 }
diff --git a/src/api/tesseractmain.cpp b/src/api/tesseractmain.cpp
index 7cc33e0f5..3339d89e0 100644
--- a/src/api/tesseractmain.cpp
+++ b/src/api/tesseractmain.cpp
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #endif
 #include <cstdlib> // for std::getenv
 #include <iostream>
+#include <memory> // std::unique_ptr
 
 #include <allheaders.h>
 #include <tesseract/baseapi.h>
@@ -706,7 +707,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
     tesseract::TextlineOrder order;
     float deskew_angle;
 
-    const tesseract::PageIterator *it = api.AnalyseLayout();
+    const std::unique_ptr<const tesseract::PageIterator> it(api.AnalyseLayout());
     if (it) {
       // TODO: Implement output of page segmentation, see documentation
       // ("Automatic page segmentation, but no OSD, or OCR").
@@ -719,8 +720,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
       ret_val = EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 
-    delete it;
-
     pixDestroy(&pixs);
     return ret_val;
   }