diff --git a/esphome/core/application.cpp b/esphome/core/application.cpp
index c012195f34..d82a7a5d37 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/application.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ void Application::loop() {
 
   if (this->dump_config_at_ < this->components_.size()) {
     if (this->dump_config_at_ == 0) {
-      ESP_LOGI(TAG, "ESPHome version " ESPHOME_VERSION " compiled on %s", this->compilation_time_.c_str());
+      ESP_LOGI(TAG, "ESPHome version " ESPHOME_VERSION " compiled on %s", this->compilation_time_);
 #ifdef ESPHOME_PROJECT_NAME
       ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Project " ESPHOME_PROJECT_NAME " version " ESPHOME_PROJECT_VERSION);
 #endif
diff --git a/esphome/core/application.h b/esphome/core/application.h
index 0501d1a56a..054f2ea648 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.h
+++ b/esphome/core/application.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ namespace esphome {
 
 class Application {
  public:
-  void pre_setup(const std::string &name, const std::string &friendly_name, const std::string &comment,
+  void pre_setup(const std::string &name, const std::string &friendly_name, const char *comment,
                  const char *compilation_time, bool name_add_mac_suffix) {
     arch_init();
     this->name_add_mac_suffix_ = name_add_mac_suffix;
@@ -154,11 +154,11 @@ class Application {
   /// Get the friendly name of this Application set by pre_setup().
   const std::string &get_friendly_name() const { return this->friendly_name_; }
   /// Get the comment of this Application set by pre_setup().
-  const std::string &get_comment() const { return this->comment_; }
+  std::string get_comment() const { return this->comment_; }
 
   bool is_name_add_mac_suffix_enabled() const { return this->name_add_mac_suffix_; }
 
-  const std::string &get_compilation_time() const { return this->compilation_time_; }
+  std::string get_compilation_time() const { return this->compilation_time_; }
 
   /** Set the target interval with which to run the loop() calls.
    * If the loop() method takes longer than the target interval, ESPHome won't
@@ -376,8 +376,8 @@ class Application {
 
   std::string name_;
   std::string friendly_name_;
-  std::string comment_;
-  std::string compilation_time_;
+  const char *comment_{nullptr};
+  const char *compilation_time_{nullptr};
   bool name_add_mac_suffix_;
   uint32_t last_loop_{0};
   uint32_t loop_interval_{16};