RCS is supposed to be the spiritual successor to classic SMS and MMS texting, but the lack of built-in encryption puts a damper on that — someone could theoretically snoop on your messages where they can’t with services like iMessage. You might get your privacy after all, though. The 9to5Google crew has found evidence of plans to add end-to-end encryption to RCS conversations in Google Messages. While full details of how this would work aren’t clear, you could decide whether not third-party apps see encrypted messages. It’s also safe to assume that both participants would need a compatible app with reliable data connections.

The code is only just showing up in a “dogfood” test version of Messages meant for Google employees. It could be a while before this shows up in a release you can use yourself. Still, it’s good news. So long as you aren’t picky about your choice of messaging app, you could use all the rich media features of RCS without worrying that you’re compromising your privacy in the process.

Those SMS/MMS responses are known as “fallback” texts, and in iMessage, they’re sent in place of reaction messages to anyone who doesn’t use iMessage. In Google’s Messages 5.8, released on the Play Store to beta testers, 9to5Google spotted code that suggests Google is preparing similar “fallback” text, which would be sent to anyone who doesn’t have RCS.

As 9to5Google points out, this could further the petty, green-versus-blue bubble war between Android and iOS users, as iMessage and Google Messages users could find it frustrating to receive fallback texts from each other. Plus, we don’t know how long it will take before these text responses are available in RCS apps beyond Google Messages, like Verizon Messages or Samsung Messages. If those apps can only receive fallback texts, it could make messaging even more fragmented.