diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/__init__.py b/esphome/components/socket/__init__.py
index 3fa57b0b47..6be8312847 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/__init__.py
@@ -175,7 +175,6 @@ async def to_code(config):
     ):
         # Host platform: uses select() syscall for socket monitoring
         # and a UDP loopback socket for wake_loop_threadsafe()
-        cg.add_define("USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT")
         consume_sockets(1, "socket.wake_loop_threadsafe", SocketType.UDP)({})
 
 
diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/socket.cpp b/esphome/components/socket/socket.cpp
index 4b8a32ed1d..bc43b2746e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/socket.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/socket.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 namespace esphome::socket {
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 // Shared ready() implementation for fd-based socket implementations (BSD and LWIP sockets).
 // Checks if the Application's select() loop has marked this fd as ready.
 bool socket_ready_fd(int fd, bool loop_monitored) { return !loop_monitored || App.is_socket_ready_(fd); }
diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/socket.h b/esphome/components/socket/socket.h
index 226a669e31..a681bc228b 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/socket.h
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/socket.h
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ using ListenSocket = LWIPRawListenImpl;
 inline bool socket_ready(struct lwip_sock *cached_sock, bool loop_monitored) {
   return !loop_monitored || (cached_sock != nullptr && esphome_lwip_socket_has_data(cached_sock));
 }
-#elif defined(USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT)
+#elif defined(USE_HOST)
 /// Shared ready() helper for fd-based socket implementations.
 /// Checks if the Application's select() loop has marked this fd as ready.
 bool socket_ready_fd(int fd, bool loop_monitored);
diff --git a/esphome/core/application.cpp b/esphome/core/application.cpp
index 3078e7aca5..c389f1c342 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/application.cpp
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 #include "esphome/components/socket/socket.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 #include <cerrno>
 #endif
 
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ void Application::setup() {
   // when USE_LWIP_FAST_SELECT is enabled (ESP32 and LibreTiny).
   esphome_lwip_fast_select_init();
 #endif
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   // Set up wake socket for waking main loop from tasks (platforms without fast select only)
   this->setup_wake_loop_threadsafe_();
 #endif
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ void Application::unregister_socket(struct lwip_sock *sock) {
     return;
   }
 }
-#elif defined(USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT)
+#elif defined(USE_HOST)
 bool Application::register_socket_fd(int fd) {
   // WARNING: This function is NOT thread-safe and must only be called from the main loop
   // It modifies socket_fds_ and related variables without locking
@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ void Application::unregister_socket_fd(int fd) {
 #endif
 
 // Only the select() fallback path remains in the .cpp — all other paths are inlined in application.h
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 void Application::yield_with_select_(uint32_t delay_ms) {
   // Fallback select() path (host platform and any future platforms without fast select).
   if (!this->socket_fds_.empty()) [[likely]] {
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ void Application::yield_with_select_(uint32_t delay_ms) {
   // No sockets registered or select() failed - use regular delay
   delay(delay_ms);
 }
-#endif  // USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#endif  // USE_HOST
 
 // App storage — asm label shares the linker symbol with "extern Application App".
 // char[] is trivially destructible, so no __cxa_atexit or destructor chain is emitted.
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ alignas(Application) char app_storage[sizeof(Application)] asm(
 
 // Host platform wake_loop_threadsafe() and setup — needs wake_socket_fd_
 // ESP32/LibreTiny/ESP8266/RP2040 implementations are in wake.cpp
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 
 void Application::setup_wake_loop_threadsafe_() {
   // Create UDP socket for wake notifications
@@ -652,7 +652,7 @@ void Application::setup_wake_loop_threadsafe_() {
   }
 }
 
-#endif  // USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#endif  // USE_HOST
 
 void Application::get_build_time_string(std::span<char, BUILD_TIME_STR_SIZE> buffer) {
   ESPHOME_strncpy_P(buffer.data(), ESPHOME_BUILD_TIME_STR, buffer.size());
diff --git a/esphome/core/application.h b/esphome/core/application.h
index e112984984..c3e2a42660 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.h
+++ b/esphome/core/application.h
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #include "esphome/core/area.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 #include <sys/select.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
 #endif
 
 namespace esphome::socket {
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 /// Shared ready() helper for fd-based socket implementations.
 bool socket_ready_fd(int fd, bool loop_monitored);  // NOLINT(readability-redundant-declaration)
 #endif
@@ -536,7 +536,7 @@ class Application {
   /// @return true if registration was successful, false if sock is null
   bool register_socket(struct lwip_sock *sock);
   void unregister_socket(struct lwip_sock *sock);
-#elif defined(USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT)
+#elif defined(USE_HOST)
   /// Fallback select() path: monitors file descriptors.
   /// NOTE: File descriptors >= FD_SETSIZE (typically 10 on ESP) will be rejected with an error.
   /// @return true if registration was successful, false if fd exceeds limits
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ class Application {
 
  protected:
   friend Component;
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   friend bool socket::socket_ready_fd(int fd, bool loop_monitored);
 #endif
 #ifdef USE_RUNTIME_STATS
@@ -566,11 +566,11 @@ class Application {
 #endif
   friend void ::setup();
   friend void ::original_setup();
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   friend void wake_loop_threadsafe();  // Host platform accesses wake_socket_fd_
 #endif
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   bool is_socket_ready_(int fd) const { return FD_ISSET(fd, &this->read_fds_); }
 #endif
 
@@ -615,14 +615,14 @@ class Application {
   void feed_wdt_arch_();
 
   /// Perform a delay while also monitoring socket file descriptors for readiness
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   // select() fallback path is too complex to inline (host platform)
   void yield_with_select_(uint32_t delay_ms);
 #else
   inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE yield_with_select_(uint32_t delay_ms);
 #endif
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   void setup_wake_loop_threadsafe_();       // Create wake notification socket
   inline void drain_wake_notifications_();  // Read pending wake notifications in main loop (hot path - inlined)
 #endif
@@ -652,10 +652,10 @@ class Application {
   FixedVector<Component *> looping_components_{};
 #ifdef USE_LWIP_FAST_SELECT
   std::vector<struct lwip_sock *> monitored_sockets_;  // Cached lwip_sock pointers for direct rcvevent read
-#elif defined(USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT)
+#elif defined(USE_HOST)
   std::vector<int> socket_fds_;  // Vector of all monitored socket file descriptors
 #endif
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   int wake_socket_fd_{-1};  // Shared wake notification socket for waking main loop from tasks
 #endif
 
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ class Application {
   uint32_t last_loop_{0};
   uint32_t loop_component_start_time_{0};
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   int max_fd_{-1};  // Highest file descriptor number for select()
 #endif
 
@@ -683,11 +683,11 @@ class Application {
   bool in_loop_{false};
   volatile bool has_pending_enable_loop_requests_{false};
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   bool socket_fds_changed_{false};  // Flag to rebuild base_read_fds_ when socket_fds_ changes
 #endif
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   // Variable-sized members (not needed with fast select — is_socket_ready_ reads rcvevent directly)
   fd_set read_fds_{};       // Working fd_set: populated by select()
   fd_set base_read_fds_{};  // Cached fd_set rebuilt only when socket_fds_ changes
@@ -780,7 +780,7 @@ class Application {
 /// Global storage of Application pointer - only one Application can exist.
 extern Application App;  // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
 
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 // Inline implementations for hot-path functions
 // drain_wake_notifications_() is called on every loop iteration
 
@@ -802,10 +802,10 @@ inline void Application::drain_wake_notifications_() {
     }
   }
 }
-#endif  // USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#endif  // USE_HOST
 
 inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE Application::before_loop_tasks_(uint32_t loop_start_time) {
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
   // Drain wake notifications first to clear socket for next wake
   this->drain_wake_notifications_();
 #endif
@@ -896,7 +896,7 @@ inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE Application::loop() {
 }
 
 // Inline yield_with_select_ for all paths except the select() fallback
-#ifndef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifndef USE_HOST
 inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE Application::yield_with_select_(uint32_t delay_ms) {
 #ifdef USE_LWIP_FAST_SELECT
   // Fast path (ESP32/LibreTiny): reads rcvevent directly from cached lwip_sock pointers.
@@ -922,6 +922,6 @@ inline void ESPHOME_ALWAYS_INLINE Application::yield_with_select_(uint32_t delay
 #endif
   esphome::internal::wakeable_delay(delay_ms);
 }
-#endif  // !USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#endif  // !USE_HOST
 
 }  // namespace esphome
diff --git a/esphome/core/defines.h b/esphome/core/defines.h
index 576865ced8..5b0536937e 100644
--- a/esphome/core/defines.h
+++ b/esphome/core/defines.h
@@ -387,7 +387,6 @@
 #ifdef USE_HOST
 #define USE_HTTP_REQUEST_RESPONSE
 #define USE_SOCKET_IMPL_BSD_SOCKETS
-#define USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
 #define USE_ESPHOME_TASK_LOG_BUFFER
 #define ESPHOME_TASK_LOG_BUFFER_SIZE 64
 #endif
diff --git a/esphome/core/wake.cpp b/esphome/core/wake.cpp
index a42801e5be..076083ded4 100644
--- a/esphome/core/wake.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/wake.cpp
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ volatile bool g_main_loop_woke = false;
 #endif  // USE_RP2040
 
 // === Host (UDP loopback socket) ===
-#ifdef USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#ifdef USE_HOST
 #include "esphome/core/application.h"
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 
@@ -51,6 +51,6 @@ void wake_loop_threadsafe() {
     ::send(App.wake_socket_fd_, &dummy, 1, 0);
   }
 }
-#endif  // USE_SOCKET_SELECT_SUPPORT
+#endif  // USE_HOST
 
 }  // namespace esphome