Below is the feedback i submitted to apple:
Hello,
With one of the most recent Safari updates, arrow navigation with VoiceOver became broken. I attached a screen recording demonstrating the issue. I’m using an M4 Pro MacBook Pro running the latest version of macOS Sequoia and Safari 26.5. I still have not updated beyond Sequoia because I do not believe the newer versions are stable enough for VoiceOver users yet. However, since this bug appeared after a Safari update, it should likely be reproducible regardless of the macOS version.
The issue occurs when reviewing a chunk of text on a webpage. If I quickly switch to another app using Command+Tab and then switch back to Safari, arrow navigation on a web page usually stops working afterward. This happens around 3 out of 4 times. Most of the time, switching apps triggers the bug, but occasionally it also happens randomly without switching apps at all.
The only workaround is to move keyboard focus to a keyboard-focusable element using Tab or Shift+Tab, after which arrow navigation usually starts working again. However, this workaround causes me to lose my place in the text, forcing me to find it again manually.
Please note that this issue only happens when reading text with multiple paragraphs or other non-focusable content, meaning areas that cannot normally be focused with Tab or Shift+Tab. Also, the “Always allow keyboard commands to navigate websites” option in VoiceOver Utilities under Web > Navigation is enabled.
Arrow navigation in Safari is extremely important because it allows me to review text without needing to use VoiceOver navigation commands, which require interacting with the content or using the rotor to navigate by character, word, and so on. This significantly impacts usability and efficiency, so this issue should be fixed as soon as possible.
Thank you, and please let me know if you need any additional information. Demonstration link below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PzqvOqtswmHcKc3-p8dtuJesmOf_5GLQ/view?usp=sharing
Comments
have you tested on mac os 26?
Hi, have you tested the latest safari on mac os 26? sometimes operating systemns can have effects on software.
@BlindWiz
I will test in a moment, on a clean installation of mac OS on an external ssd
Tested on Tahoe
Just confirmed that the issue is also present on Tahoe's last release with the same voiceover configuration settings.
I submitted more detailsw
This is more details after they said they forwarded the issue to the appropriate team.
FYI, switching apps is not required for the issue to occur. Sometimes it happens completely out of nowhere. For example, I may be navigating line by line with the Down Arrow without any problems, but as soon as I press the Up Arrow to go back to a previous line, it suddenly stops working.
Also, when this issue occurs, if I make VoiceOver speak the item with keyboard focus, VoiceOver says something like "keyboard has no focus" (I don't remember the exact wording). This happens even when cursor tracking is enabled, so keyboard focus should theoretically follow the VoiceOver cursor, but it doesn't. Because of that, I assume this is a keyboard focus issue.
For some reason, keyboard focus occasionally stops following the VoiceOver cursor in Safari. When this happens, pressing VO+Shift+M to open the context menu also fails to present the appropriate actions, such as "Open Link in New Tab." Instead, the menu only shows generic options like Back and Reload Page. In other words, this keyboard focus issue creates all kinds of secondary problems. So when this issue happens, it’s also not possible to press command+enter to open a link in a new tap, for example.
Pressing VO+Command+F4 to move keyboard focus to the VoiceOver cursor does not resolve the issue either. Sometimes, pressing tap to set the keyboard focus to an element on a webpage causes VoiceOver and keyboard focus to synchronize again, but doing so moves the VoiceOver cursor to that element, causing us to lose our place on the page.
Please investigate the keyboard focus issue, as it appears to be the root cause behind all of these problems.