Better mobile messaging for Android is on the horizon. As part of the Mobile rld Congress festivities, the GSM Association announced that it’s partnered up with 15 global carriers to push adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS).

RCS brings the features found in third-party services like Facebook Messenger, atsApp, Hangouts, others to stard messaging, such as real-time typing read notifications, support for higher-resolution images, location sharing, emoticons. st like with Apple’s iMessage, you won’t have to sign up for another account with a third-party service, as it will be integrated with your phone’s stard messaging.

has pledged to build a dedicated RCS client thanks to its acquisition of be, a carrier-based messaging platform. This would enable carriers to tap into be’s platform in order to deliver RCS, or they can build their own infrastructure. T-Mobile has already rolled out some support for RCS with its own Advanced Messaging service.

Expect to hear more about this at I/O, as that’s usually a prime venue for to announce new initiatives or exp on major projects.

y this matters: SMS MMS messaging can be a pain point for Android users when compared to the ione, which offers a zippier, although proprietary, system with iMessage (which is not without its own issues, it should be noted). RCS is exciting because it can bring this type of capability to everyone regardless of device. Though how much Apple would support this remains to be seen, as universal open stards are not usually the company’s forte.