ESP Home showing devices offline despite HA discovering

ESPHome
1

I recently deployed two ESP32s as Bluetooth proxies. I created the device in ESPHome Device Builder’s UI, downloaded the file, and flashed with ESP Web. The devices show up and work in Home Assistant just fine with zero additional config but in the ESP Home web UI they show offline.

The devices are on another subnet that has mDNS and mDNS mirroring enabled and I’ve validated in HA → Settings → System → Network → Zeroconf that I’m seeing the devices (one example below) which tells me that the mirroing is working fine. I also tried to enable and disable the “use ping for status” setting.

Example Zeroconf Entry

{"name":"esp32-bluetooth-proxy-1b8190._esphomelib._tcp.local.","type":"_esphomelib._tcp.local.","port":6053,"properties":{"network":"wifi","board":"esp32dev","platform":"ESP32","mac":"ece3341b8190","version":"2025.8.3","friendly_name":"Upstairs Bluetooth Proxy 1b8190"},"ip_addresses":["192.168.2.131"]}

Environment

  • HA Core: 2025.9.1
  • ESPHome Device Builder: 2025.8.4
  • Home Assistant OS on Home Assistant Green
2

I have the same problem. They announce themselves with the six digit hex number at the end, while ESPHome have the title without the hex. So they are not recognized.

3

I had a similar thought. The hex comes from esphome.name_add_mac_suffix like below

esphome:
  name: esp32-bluetooth-proxy
  friendly_name: Upstairs Bluetooth Proxy
  min_version: 2025.8.0
  name_add_mac_suffix: true # <= this adds the hex

I tried to rename the entity to match but that failed. The other thing that confused me was that even if it were being picked up as a different entity and it were just a case of mistaken identity, I’d expect it to show up as a discovered device in the add-on UI like, for example, my Home Assistant Voice does.

4

I have the same issue.
Any bt proxy device never shows as “online” in esphome and I cannot update them remotely. The same applies to devices with ethernet and wifi and they are visible in homeassistant and work in proxying bt devices.
Is there a config entry I need to set to get them to be updateable over network?

This is my config:

esphome:
  name: "bt-proxy-02"
  friendly_name: Bluetooth Proxy 02
  min_version: 2025.5.0
  name_add_mac_suffix: true
  platformio_options:
    board_build.flash_mode: dio

esp32:
  board: wt32-eth01
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  encryption:
    key: "AAA"

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    id: ota_esphome
    password: "BBB"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Bluetooth-Proxy-02"
    password: "XXX"

captive_portal:

esp32_ble_tracker:
  scan_parameters:
    interval: 1100ms
    window: 1100ms
    active: true

bluetooth_proxy:
  active: true
  connection_slots: 3

button:
  - platform: safe_mode
    id: button_safe_mode
    name: Safe Mode Boot

  - platform: factory_reset
    id: factory_reset_btn
    name: Factory reset
5

Actually it looks like removing the line name_add_mac_suffix: true solved this and it now shows up as “online”.