Bug: Scrolling long notes, scroll abruptly stops in between

Platform

[X] iOS

Obsidian Mobile version: v1.4.2 and earlier

When I swipe down on a longer note on iPad, every few seconds the scroll movement stops abruptly.
Default theme, CSS deactivated, restricted mode on. Obsidian was killed and restarted before the test.
In this example I used a very long note to demonstrate, but it also happens with shorter notes.
Screenrecording:

Related bug report: [Bug] Tapping iOS status bar sometimes only scrolls partway to top

3 Likes

Confirmed.

I’ve never noticed it before because I tend to “refresh” the scroll with repeated swipes instead of waiting for it to stop.

1 Like

additional info: There was an update some weeks ago which improved the rendering of markdown elements when scrolling fast. If I remember correctly, this improved the “abrupt-scroll-stop” behavior a lot.

I don’t think we are gonna do much more beyond that. This happens because the Live Preview is computed as you scroll.

I think a user doesn’t mind when the computation happens slow, but when the scrolling stops constantly, it feels broken.

A good workaround might be if the scrolling keeps going, and computing happens with a delay.

I think the issue is that Obsidian doesn’t know how far you can scroll until you’ve scrolled. It’s an interesting case for competing priorities, though. I also get caught by this behavior occasionally.

3 Likes

Unfortunately, I can confirm this problem on Android. Its effect in some cases prevents you from ever seeing the bottom of the note. I doubt it’s a rendering problem, as described, because of rapid scrolling, as the problem exists consistently with slow scrolling as well. Reloading the Obsidian sometimes will help you, as you can scroll either fast or slow and it will work as expected. The problem always returns after a while though.

2 Likes

This happens for me on both iPad and android.

this happens to me when scrolling to the top of a long note on Android

This one is a real pain, I would personally not tag as “minor” something I run into every single day (which means many more will too). It happens even with not-so-long notes. If there’s anything you guys can do to prioritize this, you have my vote!

3 Likes

I honestly think that pretty much every mobile user (at least iOS) is affected. It happens on my iPhone, iPad and my wife’s iPhone.

Sadly the problem occasionally pops up on my desktop as of late, especially in live preview mode. Seems to get stuck at a certain point of the note and no matter which way you scroll, it snaps back to the same spot. With the desktop, when this happens it often looks like it gets hung up on a markdown element, like links, image links, or the front matter at the top of the note. Perhaps this is a clue as to what is tripping up the scrolling on all devices. Sometimes switching to source mode helps but not always, yet reloading Obsidian altogether does seem to fix the problem for a while.