diff --git a/esphome/components/api/proto.cpp b/esphome/components/api/proto.cpp
index ee958e0564..89fdd8c8b2 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/proto.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/proto.cpp
@@ -355,11 +355,14 @@ void ProtoMessage::decode(const uint8_t *buffer, size_t length) {
           decoded = decode_varint_field(field->get_type(), field_addr, value);
         }
 
-        // If not found, try repeated fields
+        // If not found, try repeated fields (linear search - usually only 1-2 fields)
         if (!decoded) {
-          if (const RepeatedFieldMeta *field = find_field_binary(repeated_fields, repeated_count, field_id, 0)) {
-            void *field_addr = base + field->get_offset();
-            decoded = decode_repeated_varint_field(field->get_type(), field_addr, value);
+          for (uint8_t j = 0; j < repeated_count; j++) {
+            if (repeated_fields[j].field_num == field_id && repeated_fields[j].get_wire_type() == 0) {
+              void *field_addr = base + repeated_fields[j].get_offset();
+              decoded = decode_repeated_varint_field(repeated_fields[j].get_type(), field_addr, value);
+              break;
+            }
           }
         }
 
@@ -389,11 +392,15 @@ void ProtoMessage::decode(const uint8_t *buffer, size_t length) {
           decoded = decode_length_field(field->get_type(), field_addr, value, field->get_message_type_id());
         }
 
-        // If not found, try repeated fields
+        // If not found, try repeated fields (linear search - usually only 1-2 fields)
         if (!decoded) {
-          if (const RepeatedFieldMeta *field = find_field_binary(repeated_fields, repeated_count, field_id, 2)) {
-            void *field_addr = base + field->get_offset();
-            decoded = decode_repeated_length_field(field->get_type(), field_addr, value, field->get_message_type_id());
+          for (uint8_t j = 0; j < repeated_count; j++) {
+            if (repeated_fields[j].field_num == field_id && repeated_fields[j].get_wire_type() == 2) {
+              void *field_addr = base + repeated_fields[j].get_offset();
+              decoded = decode_repeated_length_field(repeated_fields[j].get_type(), field_addr, value,
+                                                     repeated_fields[j].get_message_type_id());
+              break;
+            }
           }
         }
 
@@ -420,11 +427,14 @@ void ProtoMessage::decode(const uint8_t *buffer, size_t length) {
           decoded = decode_32bit_field(field->get_type(), field_addr, value);
         }
 
-        // If not found, try repeated fields
+        // If not found, try repeated fields (linear search - usually only 1-2 fields)
         if (!decoded) {
-          if (const RepeatedFieldMeta *field = find_field_binary(repeated_fields, repeated_count, field_id, 5)) {
-            void *field_addr = base + field->get_offset();
-            decoded = decode_repeated_32bit_field(field->get_type(), field_addr, value);
+          for (uint8_t j = 0; j < repeated_count; j++) {
+            if (repeated_fields[j].field_num == field_id && repeated_fields[j].get_wire_type() == 5) {
+              void *field_addr = base + repeated_fields[j].get_offset();
+              decoded = decode_repeated_32bit_field(repeated_fields[j].get_type(), field_addr, value);
+              break;
+            }
           }
         }
 
diff --git a/esphome/components/api/proto.h b/esphome/components/api/proto.h
index b0d3d505bd..4dcc25451a 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/proto.h
+++ b/esphome/components/api/proto.h
@@ -327,8 +327,7 @@ struct RepeatedFieldMeta {
 };
 
 // Binary search for field lookup - optimized for performance
-template<typename MetaType>
-inline const MetaType *find_field_binary(const MetaType *fields, uint8_t count, uint8_t field_id, uint8_t wire_type) {
+inline const FieldMeta *find_field_binary(const FieldMeta *fields, uint8_t count, uint8_t field_id, uint8_t wire_type) {
   uint8_t left = 0;
   uint8_t right = count;
 
diff --git a/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py b/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
index cc40f76e67..be71f7653f 100755
--- a/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
+++ b/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
@@ -1893,7 +1893,7 @@ namespace api {
                 cpp += "};\n"
 
             if repeated_fields:
-                # Sort fields by field number for binary search
+                # Sort fields by field number for consistency (even though using linear search)
                 sorted_fields = sorted(
                     repeated_fields, key=lambda f: int(f.split(",")[0].strip("{"))
                 )