diff --git a/esphome/components/api/proto.h b/esphome/components/api/proto.h
index d9c9e3c85d..764bac2f39 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/proto.h
+++ b/esphome/components/api/proto.h
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ class ProtoService {
    */
   virtual ProtoWriteBuffer create_buffer(uint32_t reserve_size) = 0;
   virtual bool send_buffer(ProtoWriteBuffer buffer, uint16_t message_type) = 0;
-  virtual bool read_message(uint32_t msg_size, uint32_t msg_type, uint8_t *msg_data) = 0;
+  virtual void read_message(uint32_t msg_size, uint32_t msg_type, uint8_t *msg_data) = 0;
 
   // Optimized method that pre-allocates buffer based on message size
   bool send_message_(const ProtoMessage &msg, uint16_t message_type) {