diff --git a/esphome/core/application.cpp b/esphome/core/application.cpp
index 4ecb247ec3..5e23c6250b 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/application.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "esphome/core/application.h"
 #include "esphome/core/log.h"
 #include "esphome/core/version.h"
+#include "esphome/core/esphal.h"
 
 #ifdef USE_STATUS_LED
 #include "esphome/components/status_led/status_led.h"
@@ -58,6 +59,9 @@ void Application::setup() {
   ESP_LOGI(TAG, "setup() finished successfully!");
   this->schedule_dump_config();
   this->calculate_looping_components_();
+
+  // Dummy function to link some symbols into the binary.
+  force_link_symbols();
 }
 void Application::loop() {
   uint32_t new_app_state = 0;
diff --git a/esphome/core/esphal.cpp b/esphome/core/esphal.cpp
index 2389a2a7f6..90707016c3 100644
--- a/esphome/core/esphal.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/esphal.cpp
@@ -271,6 +271,22 @@ ISRInternalGPIOPin *GPIOPin::to_isr() const {
                                 this->gpio_read_, this->gpio_mask_, this->inverted_);
 }
 
+void force_link_symbols() {
+#ifdef ARDUINO_ARCH_ESP8266
+  // Tasmota uses magic bytes in the binary to check if an OTA firmware is compatible
+  // with their settings - ESPHome uses a different settings system (that can also survive
+  // erases). So set magic bytes indicating all tasmota versions are supported.
+  // This only adds 12 bytes of binary size, which is an acceptable price to pay for easier support
+  // for Tasmota.
+  // https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/blob/b05301b1497942167a015a6113b7f424e42942cd/tasmota/settings.ino#L346-L380
+  // https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/blob/b05301b1497942167a015a6113b7f424e42942cd/tasmota/i18n.h#L652-L654
+  const static uint32_t TASMOTA_MAGIC_BYTES[] PROGMEM = {0x5AA55AA5, 0xFFFFFFFF, 0xA55AA55A};
+  // Force link symbol by using a volatile integer (GCC attribute used does not work because of LTO)
+  volatile int x = 0;
+  x = TASMOTA_MAGIC_BYTES[x];
+#endif
+}
+
 }  // namespace esphome
 
 #ifdef ARDUINO_ESP8266_RELEASE_2_3_0
diff --git a/esphome/core/esphal.h b/esphome/core/esphal.h
index 453e094acc..809c7d91b5 100644
--- a/esphome/core/esphal.h
+++ b/esphome/core/esphal.h
@@ -116,4 +116,12 @@ class GPIOPin {
 template<typename T> void GPIOPin::attach_interrupt(void (*func)(T *), T *arg, int mode) const {
   this->attach_interrupt_(reinterpret_cast<void (*)(void *)>(func), arg, mode);
 }
+/** This function can be used by the HAL to force-link specific symbols
+ * into the generated binary without modifying the linker script.
+ *
+ * It is called by the application very early on startup and should not be used for anything
+ * other than forcing symbols to be linked.
+ */
+void force_link_symbols();
+
 }  // namespace esphome