Assist mic fails silently ('Oops, an error has occurred') with zero trace client or server side - text input works fine

[AshieTashi]

Description

Assist voice input consistently fails with a generic "Oops, an error has occurred" toast, both from the home screen Assist widget and from the native Assist screen inside the app. Text input to the same Assist conversation works perfectly every time. This is 100% reproducible across many attempts over one evening, both away from home (mobile data, connecting via Home Assistant Cloud/Nabu Casa remote UI) and on home WiFi.

What we've ruled out (with evidence)

• Not a server-side config issue. Enabled DEBUG logging on assist_pipeline, conversation, cloud, stt, wyoming, and mobile_app via logger.set_level (no restart). Across multiple reproduced failures, zero log lines were emitted by any of those components — not even a connection attempt. Confirmed via docker logs on Home Assistant Core.
• Not microphone permission. Confirmed RECORD_AUDIO is granted (Android Settings → Apps → Home Assistant → Permissions → Microphone → Allowed).
• Not the Assist pipeline itself. Typed input to the exact same conversation agent works correctly every time, including complex responses.
• Not the home-screen widget specifically. Reproduces identically from the native in-app Assist screen too.
• Not an active-media/audio-focus conflict. Reproduced with no other app holding audio focus.
• Not Nabu Casa Cloud reachability. remote_enabled: true in .storage/cloud, the *.ui.nabu.casa remote domain returns HTTP 200 directly, and text-based Assist over the same remote connection works fine.
• App's own local log (Settings → Companion app → Troubleshooting → Show and share logs) shows the native AssistActivity opening, then visibilityChanged newVisibility=false about 1.2 seconds later, with no logged exception, no logged network call, nothing in between. It appears to self-terminate silently rather than crash or throw.

Environment

• Home Assistant Companion for Android
• Server: Home Assistant Core, connected via Home Assistant Cloud (Nabu Casa) remote UI
• STT: Wyoming protocol add-on (faster-whisper), confirmed independently healthy (its own container log shows successful transcriptions of unrelated test audio)
• TTS: Piper add-on
• Conversation agent: custom LLM-backed agent (not the default Assist)

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Assist (widget or in-app), see the default "How can I assist?" greeting
2. Tap the microphone icon
3. Observe "Oops, an error has occurred" within ~1-2 seconds
4. Check Home Assistant Core logs (even at DEBUG level for assist_pipeline/conversation/mobile_app) — nothing was logged for the attempt
5. Type the same request instead — works correctly

What would help us narrow this further

Given the total absence of any error trace on both client and server sides, is there a lower-level log (e.g. audio recording / codec initialization) that isn't captured by the Companion app's "Show and share logs" export? Any known interaction between the native Assist audio pipeline and Home Assistant Cloud's remote UI proxy that could cause a silent, pre-network failure like this?

Happy to provide adb logcat output, HA debug logs, or anything else that would help.

[jpelgrom]

Could you tell which app version you're using and provide a snippet of your log so we can see if there is anything relevant included? Is Assist in the app using the same assistant/pipeline as the one you're describing (check the name immediately below the header)?

I'd also like to make sure you're aware of the Open Home Foundation's AI policy. Your issue looks AI generated to me, please avoid skipping the template and autonomous use.