diff --git a/src/mainview/components/MessageBar.qml b/src/mainview/components/MessageBar.qml
index 3d36346b2efd77e5ff9ea30ddfd167ab9d449d20..4df0c4e2e27d9493d8bd29e87d70e2eb870f3d5c 100644
--- a/src/mainview/components/MessageBar.qml
+++ b/src/mainview/components/MessageBar.qml
@@ -135,6 +135,12 @@ ColumnLayout {
 
             objectName: "messageBarTextArea"
 
+            // forward activeFocus to the actual text area object
+            onActiveFocusChanged: {
+                if (activeFocus)
+                    textAreaObj.forceActiveFocus()
+            }
+
             Layout.alignment: Qt.AlignVCenter
             Layout.fillWidth: true
             Layout.margins: marginSize / 2
diff --git a/src/mainview/components/MessageBarTextArea.qml b/src/mainview/components/MessageBarTextArea.qml
index 9a2310c0bb4abb2303b983e5ca352822eba3f651..599b88dbbfbb93791790cd034a7db0eb7a04d025 100644
--- a/src/mainview/components/MessageBarTextArea.qml
+++ b/src/mainview/components/MessageBarTextArea.qml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ Flickable {
     id: root
 
     property alias text: textArea.text
+    property var textAreaObj: textArea
     property alias placeholderText: textArea.placeholderText
 
     signal sendMessagesRequired
diff --git a/src/mainview/components/MessageWebView.qml b/src/mainview/components/MessageWebView.qml
index d3b694390eff436adbbb6c5a5308853eac197992..33333a84054e4bfdfc11af3c36d363a20b37fb1e 100644
--- a/src/mainview/components/MessageWebView.qml
+++ b/src/mainview/components/MessageWebView.qml
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ Rectangle {
     }
 
     function focusMessageWebView() {
-        messageWebView.forceActiveFocus()
+        messageWebViewFooter.textInput.forceActiveFocus()
     }
 
     function webViewRunJavaScript(arg) {
diff --git a/src/mainview/components/MessageWebViewFooter.qml b/src/mainview/components/MessageWebViewFooter.qml
index bdcd0c7e64c8be8d229a3b3931390f13c808c45a..6ae692a889961be544bb3509fcc98eab7f206a63 100644
--- a/src/mainview/components/MessageWebViewFooter.qml
+++ b/src/mainview/components/MessageWebViewFooter.qml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import "../../commoncomponents/emojipicker"
 Rectangle {
     id: root
 
+    property alias textInput: messageBar.textAreaObj
     property string previousConvId: ""
 
     function setFilePathsToSend(filePaths) {