Facebook is in a heap of trouble at the moment thanks to the way it broke Apple’s rules for distributing apps in order to farm data from its users. Right now, the company isn’t able to test iOS products or use internal apps for logistics planning.

But if it is able to negotiate a way out of its ban, we may eventually see a direct messaging solution that will break down walls between Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users.

The New York Times reported last week that was exactly what Facebook has been thinking of doing, citing sources saying that end-to-end encryption would be crucial to the new amalgamized service.

During its latest earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed questions about a combined messaging app. The Verge reports that he said:

The integration that we’re thinking about, we’re really early in thinking through this. There’s a lot more we need to figure out […] I think it’s the direction we should be going with with more things in the future.

The executive also pointed out that the new app could act as an SMS pass-through to enable encryption and rich media. Facebook Messenger currently gives users the option to have the app act as their phone’s SMS client.

Facebook and WhatsApp have nearly 2 billion active users while Instagram is racking up past its first billion.