Google’s (News - Alert) Hangouts messaging services has been getting a lot of attention lately. It’s likely this is in part due to the company’s fix for Android fragmentation, focusing more on updating core Google apps rather than the OS itself, but it also seems to stem from some streamlining. Specifically, Hangouts now pulls double duty for Google+ Messenger and the Gmail-embedded Google Talk, which used to be separate entities for a better browser-based chatting experience.

Now, new information from Android (News - Alert) Police suggests that Hangouts may play a more prominent role on Android as well with its upcoming 1.3 release, which is rumored to include SMS integration. This isn’t too surprising since Hangouts and Chat community manager Dori Storbeck earlier this year promised this functionality would appear, but now we know the feature is imminent. The update is also said to include video sharing via Hangouts.

The popular theory is that the update will appear alongside the release of Android 4.4, KitKat, which should be featured on the Nexus 5. While there is some sense to this — it would certainly flesh out the release event — it’s obviously not guaranteed without official word from Google itself.

What’s for certain, though, is that Android’s standalone SMS app won’t be going anywhere just yet, as screenshots from an anonymous tipster show that users will be able to turn off Hangouts SMS integration if they so choose. The screenshots also show that messages sent via SMS will be accompanied with “via SMS,” while the compose box will feature the text “Send an SMS message” when necessary, making it easy to keep track of what kinds of messages are being sent.

For Android users, obviously, this promises a more unified messaging experience, offering access to all Google account holders and mobile phone users from one app. For competing over-the-top messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook (News - Alert) Messenger, the release is likely to prove damaging.