Description
When going back a screen (such as a webpage in Safari or a screen in an app), VoiceOver focus is usually placed at the top of the screen, instead of back on the element previously in focus. This occurs both in Safari and in various first- and third-party applications.
- Current Behavior: When going back a screen, VoiceOver focus is placed at the top of the screen instead of at the element which had previously been activated. For example, a user activates a link on a webpage, then goes back to the previous page. Instead of VoiceOver remembering their place on the previous page and placing focus there, VoiceOver focus is placed at the top of the page. This significantly hinders efficiency as now the user must manually find where they were before continuing on.
- The example given is for Safari, but this behavior also occurs in many first- and third-party apps.
- Expected Behavior: When going back a screen, VoiceOver focus will be placed on the element the user was last on before changing screens; such as a link, element, or button.
- In Safari, VoiceOver should go back to the link that was previously in focus.
- In an app, VoiceOver should go back to the element that was previously in focus.
Comments
Without any intent to cause offense, I have to say,
Duh
I filed on this one
I did file a feedback. Thank you for all the hard work you do. Hopefully this will get fixed soon.
Re: Remembering previous focus
Yes, this has been a long standing problem. I don't think it is new.
I filed a bug several versions ago about this happening in the News app. If I am in the main Today dialog of the Apple News ap, open and article and then close it, Voiceover focus is almost always on the title of the article I just opened and closed. It didn't used to be that way, but after submitting a bug report on it, the issue seems to be mostly fixed now (although not 100%, especially in the betas of iOS 26).
However, if one opens a section under Favorites to get to a list of articles for that favorite, and opens and then closes an article in that section, Voiceover focus rarely is placed on the article just opened and closed. One would think that if remembering focus worked in the main News dialog then it should work when within a section. Unfortunately not.
The other case that really bugs me is when I'm exercising and my phone is unlocked. I will be listening to a podcast and ask Siri to rewind by several seconds. That works, but after the Siri dialog closes Voiceover focus will be put on the time element of the status bar. That means that every minute I hear Voiceover speaking over the podcast to announce the new time. When that happens, I generally touch an element on the display like a button whose text doesn't change to put focus there. But again, if I interact with Siri, when Siri cloases, focus will often be on the status bar and speak the time every minute.
When closing and app, web page, Siri dialog, etc. focus should always come back to where it was before the app or web site, etc. was closed. Although this isn't a problem for sighted people, it is an issue for people using Voiceover because they have to spend time flicking around to get back to where they were.
Hoepfully this can be addressed some day at the system level and not just app by app.
--Pete