diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
index 0a0435e25bb..f0428546de9 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
@@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ uint16_t APIConnection::try_send_text_info(EntityBase *entity, APIConnection *co
   msg.mode = static_cast<enums::TextMode>(text->traits.get_mode());
   msg.min_length = text->traits.get_min_length();
   msg.max_length = text->traits.get_max_length();
-  msg.set_pattern(text->traits.get_pattern_c_str());
+  msg.set_pattern(text->traits.get_pattern_ref());
   return fill_and_encode_entity_info(text, msg, ListEntitiesTextResponse::MESSAGE_TYPE, conn, remaining_size,
                                      is_single);
 }
diff --git a/esphome/components/text/text_traits.h b/esphome/components/text/text_traits.h
index d8690977000..473daafb8eb 100644
--- a/esphome/components/text/text_traits.h
+++ b/esphome/components/text/text_traits.h
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 #include <string>
 
+#include "esphome/core/string_ref.h"
+
 namespace esphome {
 namespace text {
 
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ class TextTraits {
   void set_pattern(const char *pattern) { this->pattern_ = pattern; }
   std::string get_pattern() const { return std::string(this->pattern_); }
   const char *get_pattern_c_str() const { return this->pattern_; }
+  StringRef get_pattern_ref() const { return StringRef(this->pattern_); }
 
   // Set/get the frontend mode.
   void set_mode(TextMode mode) { this->mode_ = mode; }