diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_common.cpp b/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_common.cpp
index fd2cdfcbad..a795f86e66 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_common.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_common.cpp
@@ -153,6 +153,14 @@ void ESP32TouchComponent::calculate_release_timeout_() {
   this->release_check_interval_ms_ = this->release_timeout_ms_ / 4;
 }
 
+void ESP32TouchComponent::initialize_tracking_arrays_() {
+  // Initialize tracking arrays
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < TOUCH_PAD_MAX; i++) {
+    this->last_touch_time_[i] = 0;
+    this->initial_state_published_[i] = false;
+  }
+}
+
 }  // namespace esp32_touch
 }  // namespace esphome
 
diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_v2.cpp b/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_v2.cpp
index 0b629203fb..1d0b30dfcb 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_v2.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32_touch/esp32_touch_v2.cpp
@@ -137,16 +137,6 @@ void ESP32TouchComponent::setup() {
 
   // Calculate release timeout based on sleep cycle
   this->calculate_release_timeout_();
-
-  // Initialize tracking arrays
-  for (size_t i = 0; i < TOUCH_PAD_MAX; i++) {
-    this->last_touch_time_[i] = 0;
-    this->initial_state_published_[i] = false;
-  }
-
-  // Mark initial states as not published yet (like v1)
-  // The actual initial state will be determined after release_timeout_ms_ in the loop
-  // This prevents false positives during startup when values may be unstable
 }
 
 void ESP32TouchComponent::dump_config() {