[BUG] [A11y] VoiceOver in the macOS desktop app no longer reads a reply from the point I click

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

I'm registered blind. I read every reply by ear with VoiceOver, and I use Claude Code in the macOS desktop app all day, every working day, to run two organisations.

Until an update at the start of July I could click anywhere in a reply and have VoiceOver read on from that point. That no longer works. Wherever I click, VoiceOver goes back to the first word and reads the whole reply again from the top.

So every time I mishear a figure, lose my place or want to hear the last paragraph again, I have to sit through the entire reply from the beginning. On a long reply that's several minutes, again and again, all day. The only way round it is to select text with the mouse and have that read out. When you can't see what you've selected, that's slow and hit and miss.

For a sighted user it would be like being sent back to the top of the page every time you clicked in it. Nobody would put up with that for a day, but I've had it for twelve weeks. It takes away the one way I have of reading what Claude writes.

What Should Happen?

When I click in a reply, VoiceOver should read on from that point, as it did before the July update. VoiceOver should be able to move to each paragraph of a reply on its own, so I can go back a paragraph without starting again from the top.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Turn on VoiceOver on a Mac.
2. In the Claude desktop app, open a Code tab conversation where Claude has written a reply of several paragraphs.
3. Click in the fourth paragraph of that reply.
4. Tell VoiceOver to read from there.
5. VoiceOver starts at the first word of the reply, not at the fourth paragraph. It does the same wherever you click.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Worked until an update around 1 July 2026. Version 1.17377.1 was already broken.

Claude Code Version

2.1.280 (Claude Code), in the Claude desktop app 2.2553.13

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Claude desktop app for macOS 2.2553.13, Claude Code 2.1.280, macOS 27.0 (26A428), VoiceOver. I'm on the Max 20x plan.

I reported this through the app's Help > Get Support on 1 July 2026, conversation 215474913458745, when the app was on 1.17377.1 and the Mac on macOS 26.5.1. It was passed to a human and I raised it again in August. Nobody has replied.

Related: #87977 (VoiceOver jumps around in the macOS desktop app, still open), #83167 (the message list breaking screen reader reading, closed as stale with no fix) and #71469 (screen reader testing in the desktop release process, closed).

Is anyone testing desktop releases with VoiceOver before they ship? A regression this basic shouldn't reach users, and it shouldn't sit for twelve weeks once it has.

I'm happy to test a build.

Tony Rucinski