diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp
index ee88a99ca9..d7f784b50f 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp
@@ -747,7 +747,10 @@ void HelloResponse::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   dump_field(out, "name", this->name);
 }
 #ifdef USE_API_PASSWORD
-void AuthenticationRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const { dump_field(out, "password", this->password); }
+void AuthenticationRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
+  MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "AuthenticationRequest");
+  dump_field(out, "password", this->password);
+}
 void AuthenticationResponse::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "AuthenticationResponse");
   dump_field(out, "invalid_password", this->invalid_password);
@@ -1148,7 +1151,10 @@ void NoiseEncryptionSetKeyRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   out.append(format_hex_pretty(this->key, this->key_len));
   out.append("\n");
 }
-void NoiseEncryptionSetKeyResponse::dump_to(std::string &out) const { dump_field(out, "success", this->success); }
+void NoiseEncryptionSetKeyResponse::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
+  MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "NoiseEncryptionSetKeyResponse");
+  dump_field(out, "success", this->success);
+}
 #endif
 #ifdef USE_API_HOMEASSISTANT_SERVICES
 void SubscribeHomeassistantServicesRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
@@ -1738,7 +1744,10 @@ void BluetoothDeviceConnectionResponse::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   dump_field(out, "mtu", this->mtu);
   dump_field(out, "error", this->error);
 }
-void BluetoothGATTGetServicesRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const { dump_field(out, "address", this->address); }
+void BluetoothGATTGetServicesRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
+  MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "BluetoothGATTGetServicesRequest");
+  dump_field(out, "address", this->address);
+}
 void BluetoothGATTDescriptor::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "BluetoothGATTDescriptor");
   for (const auto &it : this->uuid) {
@@ -1959,7 +1968,10 @@ void VoiceAssistantAnnounceRequest::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   dump_field(out, "preannounce_media_id", this->preannounce_media_id);
   dump_field(out, "start_conversation", this->start_conversation);
 }
-void VoiceAssistantAnnounceFinished::dump_to(std::string &out) const { dump_field(out, "success", this->success); }
+void VoiceAssistantAnnounceFinished::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
+  MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "VoiceAssistantAnnounceFinished");
+  dump_field(out, "success", this->success);
+}
 void VoiceAssistantWakeWord::dump_to(std::string &out) const {
   MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "VoiceAssistantWakeWord");
   dump_field(out, "id", this->id);
diff --git a/esphome/components/api/custom_api_device.h b/esphome/components/api/custom_api_device.h
index 7ff02512dc..d4a52a6923 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/custom_api_device.h
+++ b/esphome/components/api/custom_api_device.h
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ class CustomAPIDevice {
     for (auto &it : data) {
       auto &kv = resp.data.emplace_back();
       kv.key = StringRef(it.first);
-      kv.value = StringRef(it.second);
+      kv.value = it.second;  // value is std::string (no_zero_copy), assign directly
     }
     global_api_server->send_homeassistant_action(resp);
   }
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ class CustomAPIDevice {
     for (auto &it : data) {
       auto &kv = resp.data.emplace_back();
       kv.key = StringRef(it.first);
-      kv.value = StringRef(it.second);
+      kv.value = it.second;  // value is std::string (no_zero_copy), assign directly
     }
     global_api_server->send_homeassistant_action(resp);
   }
diff --git a/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py b/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
index e5a245f94e..274a672c7c 100755
--- a/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
+++ b/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
@@ -2151,12 +2151,10 @@ def build_message_type(
     # dump_to implementation will go in dump_cpp
     dump_impl = f"void {desc.name}::dump_to(std::string &out) const {{"
     if dump:
-        if len(dump) == 1 and len(dump[0]) + len(dump_impl) + 3 < 120:
-            dump_impl += f" {dump[0]} "
-        else:
-            dump_impl += "\n"
-            dump_impl += f'  MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "{desc.name}");\n'
-            dump_impl += indent("\n".join(dump)) + "\n"
+        # Always use MessageDumpHelper for consistent output formatting
+        dump_impl += "\n"
+        dump_impl += f'  MessageDumpHelper helper(out, "{desc.name}");\n'
+        dump_impl += indent("\n".join(dump)) + "\n"
     else:
         o2 = f'out.append("{desc.name} {{}}");'
         if len(dump_impl) + len(o2) + 3 < 120: