[BUG?] Voice Assistant on ESP-S3 Box not detecting wake word / no wake word option available

ESPHome
1

Hi all,

I’m having trouble getting my ESP32-S3 Box to work as a voice assistant, following the official guide:
:link: ESP32-S3-BOX voice assistant - Home Assistant

It used to work fine, but after re-flashing the device several times (trying to get it working again from scratch), something broke — and I can’t get wake word detection to function anymore.

Here’s the situation:

  • The device shows up correctly in ESPHome and Home Assistant.
  • Speaker and screen work, and I can change volume from the dashboard.
  • Wake word detection is not happening at all.
  • The assistant is completely unresponsive to voice — like it’s not listening.
  • In the configuration panel, I see “Wake word engine location” set to “In Home Assistant”, but there’s no option to actually pick or configure a wake word anymore.

Important:

  • I’m running the latest available versions of:
    • ESPHome (2025.4.1 flashed on Apr 30)
    • Home Assistant (latest stable)
    • All relevant integrations: assist_pipeline, wake_word, conversation, etc.

It really feels like something silently broke or was removed. I haven’t changed anything significant in my Home Assistant setup — I just reflashed the S3 box trying to clean it up. Ironically, it worked better before I tried to “fix” it :sweat_smile:

Has anyone else seen this behavior after recent updates? Is this a known issue with the latest ESPHome / HA integration? Any ideas how to bring back wake word selection or restore responsiveness?

Thanks in advance!

2

This may or may not be relevant, I don’t have an s3 box so can’t be sure. Read to the end for updated firmware.

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