Blinking Cursor and Arrow Keys Not Working Properly in Brave

Browser Support
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1

Description of the issue:
A blinking text cursor (vertical bar) appears in places where it shouldn’t (e.g., inside labels like “For You” on X/Twitter or inside non-editable content like ChatGPT responses). When this happens, the arrow keys stop scrolling the page, as if the browser thinks I’m typing in an input field—when I’m not.

Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary):

  1. Open X (Twitter) or ChatGPT in Brave.
  2. Click anywhere near a heading or text area (e.g., “For You” tab in X, or inside ChatGPT’s text).
  3. A blinking cursor appears, and arrow keys stop scrolling.

Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):
Cursor blinks inside a non-editable area, arrow keys no longer scroll the page, and focus is trapped.

Expected result:
Arrow keys should scroll the page as normal unless a real input/text field is selected.

Reproduces how often:
Always, every time I click near text or after interacting with a page like this.

Operating System and Brave Version (See the About Brave page in the main menu):

  • OS: Windows
  • Brave Version: [Insert your exact Brave version from brave://settings/help]

Additional Information:

  • No extensions active
  • Hardware acceleration tested on/off
  • Bug also visible in ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) and other dynamic websites
  • Started recently, with no changes to my system or browser
  • This affects usability across several pages
2

@Yeferson it sounds like you turned on caret browsing. This is something that has been around since 2000 if not earlier, on pretty much all web browsers.

F7 is the toggle. If you’re not familiar with it, this moves the text cursor, otherwise known as the caret, letter by a letter throughout a page. When you were saying it’s not scrolling, it most likely is but it’s doing it character by character instead of the whole page like you’re used to.

Anyway, press F7 and it should disable it. Or you can go into settings, to accessibility, and make sure the toggle is off there.

It basically exists to allow people to be able to navigate without a mouse. It’s how you scroll across or do anything on a webpage with a keyboard only.

3

You’re a genius!

It was so simple; I guess I didn’t realise when I did press it.

Thanks!