I have a couple of esp32s where I do not need/want any WIFI connectivity, I just use ESPhome with automations on the device itself.
Is there any way to disable WIFI?
Currently, I have set the devices in AP mode (omitting ssid and password variables), but that is not ideal…
leave out the wifi: section. But you won’t be able to update the firmware by ota.
@nickrout Thanks! 
This is a kind of obvious solution, but I haven’t even tried it, because the documentation states:
This core ESPHome component sets up WiFi connections to access points for you. It needs to be in your configuration or otherwise ESPHome will fail in the config validation stage.
I have tried it and it works without the wifi: section.
So what happens if you ever want to modify the automations on the device?
What is the problem with leaving wifi enabled if you don’t use it?
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Not OP, but the three things I can think of are security, visibility, and power consumption. The first two are a bit tinfoil hatty, but still valid concerns, depending on the deployment. But if you’re running the device on battery and you don’t actually need WiFi, then, that’s probably your biggest power drain eliminated.
To update code on the device later on would mean plugging it back in via USB, not impossible, just a bit of a pain depending on it’s usual install location
Yes that’s only option in that case. I guess I should have been more specific in my question to include that instead of leaving it as implied. 
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I have the units in a public place (exhibition), where there is no private wifi, but there are a lot of other wifi networks, and I do not want to cause any unnecessary interference (if the units would be operating in AP mode). I also do not want random people trying to connect to the units in AP mode.
If I leave the units in client mode with some random SSID, the units repeatedly try to connect to an unexisting network and I feel I am just using the CPU cycles for nothing…
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