This is a problem I've had off and on for years but now it's in every email I get after the iOS 26.1 update: I can't scroll through my emails with Voiceover turned on.
It's exactly what it sounds like. When Voiceover is reading an email, the email doesn't scroll regardless of where the cursor is. This means I can't click links or skip anything unless I manually drag the email down with a three finger tap, hold, and drag. I don't know if this is a bug or what. Has this happened to anyone else?
Comments
Confirming Mail Scrolling Bug
Yes, I can confirm the latest IOS update broke scrolling in the Mail app when in a message. When in the message list, the 3 finger scrolling gesture works fine. Just not in messages themselves. I am also wondering if the IOS version of Outlook is using a similar Apple API or something, because messages don't scroll in Outlook either. Our work makes us use the Outlook app, so I noticed this earlier this morning.
After discovering this bug on Monday, I did report it to Apple Accessibility, but I haven't heard anything back yet.
I thought there was some other 3 finger tap, hold, and drag gesture, but I haven't gotten this to work. I just always use the 3 finger swipe when scroling. What exactly is the hold gesture for manual scrolling with VO enabled?
Manual scrolling gesture
I misremembered it. To scroll manually it is a single finger tap, hold, and drag. The scroll with this is not smooth at all and you will either barely scroll at all or leap forward to a random place in the mail message. There is also the side bar (if you can find it) but that will advance the message by increments of 10%, which is either nothing for short messages, or you end up skipping huge chunks for long ones.
The disgust I have with this update is off the charts right now. I have never regretted updating so much and I've been using iOS since 2012.
I am looking forward to iOS 26.2
Still on 18.7 on my primary device. I was considering upgrading to 26.1, but after reading these latest posts, I think I will wait. I did upgrade my old backup device though, so if nothing else, I can play around with it and see how well it works, or doesn't work. 🙄
Scrolling
Single tap and hold, then drag just seems to do explore by touch for me. I forgot about the scroll bar though because I usually never need it. The 3 finger scroll usually works fine.
I don't think I've encountered any other major bugs with the new update other than the mail scrooling bug. This is still annoying because I read E-mails several times every day.
I'm experiencing something similar
I'm encountering a bug, but it's slightly different to what the OP has described.
I never had issues with scrolling in emails prior to iOS 26.1. Now, the three-finger flicks up and down only work in certain emails. I haven't been able to pin down any factors governing why it only works some of the time.
Also cannot scroll in Mail app
This has been an issue throughout the 26.1 beta cycle, and unfortunately it reached the final release. I use multiple providers in the native male app, and the behavior is the same regardless. It seems like it should be a higher priority bug as it impacts everything from those who use Apple‘s Mail app for work to all other important forms of communication.