No, not with any mainstream messaging app or carrier texting setup in 2026. The details differ by app, though.
- iMessage (blue bubbles): Apple says messages and attachments are end-to-end encrypted, so only you and the recipient can read them, not the Wi-Fi owner and not Apple.
- WhatsApp: messages, calls, photos and voice notes have been end-to-end encrypted by default since 2016. Signal works the same way.
- Regular SMS: these normally travel over your carrier's cellular network, not Wi-Fi, so the hotspot never touches them. With Wi-Fi Calling on, calls and texts go through an encrypted IPsec tunnel to your carrier, so the Wi-Fi operator sees only that you're connected to it. SMS itself isn't end-to-end encrypted, though, so your carrier can access it.
- RCS between iPhone and Android: encryption is new and still rolling out. With iOS 26.5 and the latest Google Messages, cross-platform RCS chats became end-to-end encrypted by default in May 2026, but Apple still labels it beta and both people's carriers must support it. Look for the lock icon in the conversation. No lock means it isn't end-to-end encrypted, although it still travels over an encrypted connection rather than in the clear.
What Wi-Fi can reveal is metadata: that your phone is talking to Apple's, WhatsApp's or your carrier's servers, and roughly how much data moves. It can't show who you're texting or what you said.
The real threats to your texts are elsewhere: someone holding your phone while it is open, a malicious app, or a phishing page that steals your Apple Account or WhatsApp verification code.