diff --git a/packages/app/src/assistant-file-links/link.tsx b/packages/app/src/assistant-file-links/link.tsx
index 584e71a5c..4c19322a6 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/assistant-file-links/link.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/assistant-file-links/link.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
 } from "react-native";
 import { StyleSheet } from "react-native-unistyles";
 import { isNative, isWeb } from "@/constants/platform";
+import { MarkdownTextSpan } from "@/components/markdown-text";
 import { Shortcut } from "@/components/ui/shortcut";
 import { Tooltip, TooltipContent, TooltipTrigger } from "@/components/ui/tooltip";
 import { useStableEvent } from "@/hooks/use-stable-event";
@@ -57,16 +58,21 @@ export function AssistantMarkdownLink({
   );
 
   if (isNative) {
+    // Must be a MarkdownTextSpan, not a plain <Text>: on iOS the link renders
+    // inside the paragraph's native UITextView, and a plain <Text> nested there
+    // is not hoisted into a UITextViewChild, so its text is silently dropped
+    // (the link disappears). The span composes correctly and stays selectable;
+    // onPress is forwarded (reliable tap-to-open on iOS is tracked by #21).
     return (
       <FileLinkHoverTooltip filePath={tooltipPath}>
-        <Text
+        <MarkdownTextSpan
           accessibilityRole="link"
-          dataSet={monoSurface ? CODE_SURFACE_DATASET : undefined}
+          monoSurface={monoSurface}
           onPress={onPress}
           style={style}
         >
           {children}
-        </Text>
+        </MarkdownTextSpan>
       </FileLinkHoverTooltip>
     );
   }
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.android.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.android.tsx
index f6f03c645..7733afb82 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.android.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.android.tsx
@@ -1,18 +1,33 @@
 import { useMemo, type ReactNode } from "react";
-import { Text, View, type StyleProp, type TextStyle, type ViewStyle } from "react-native";
+import {
+  Text,
+  View,
+  type StyleProp,
+  type TextProps,
+  type TextStyle,
+  type ViewStyle,
+} from "react-native";
 
 interface MarkdownTextSpanProps {
   style?: StyleProp<TextStyle>;
   monoSurface?: boolean;
   children: ReactNode;
+  onPress?: TextProps["onPress"];
+  accessibilityRole?: TextProps["accessibilityRole"];
 }
 
 // Android's <Text selectable> enables per-text-node selection natively. Each
 // sibling Text is its own selection scope — drag can't span across siblings
-// (that requires a single UITextView ancestor and is iOS-only).
-export function MarkdownTextSpan({ style, children }: MarkdownTextSpanProps) {
+// (that requires a single UITextView ancestor and is iOS-only). onPress works
+// natively here, so links routed through this span stay tappable on Android.
+export function MarkdownTextSpan({
+  style,
+  children,
+  onPress,
+  accessibilityRole,
+}: MarkdownTextSpanProps) {
   return (
-    <Text selectable style={style}>
+    <Text selectable style={style} onPress={onPress} accessibilityRole={accessibilityRole}>
       {children}
     </Text>
   );
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.ios.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.ios.tsx
index a66cc7708..8bd3b1046 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.ios.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.ios.tsx
@@ -1,20 +1,39 @@
 import { useMemo, type ReactNode } from "react";
-import type { StyleProp, TextStyle, ViewStyle } from "react-native";
+import type { StyleProp, TextProps, TextStyle, ViewStyle } from "react-native";
 import { UITextView } from "react-native-uitextview";
 
 interface MarkdownTextSpanProps {
   style?: StyleProp<TextStyle>;
   monoSurface?: boolean;
   children: ReactNode;
+  // Links route through this span too (see assistant-file-links/link.tsx). A
+  // plain <Text> nested in the paragraph UITextView is dropped, so the link
+  // must be a UITextView span to be visible. onPress is forwarded best-effort:
+  // react-native-uitextview nulls onPress on the root native view, so reliable
+  // tap-to-open is still tracked by #21 — but visible+selectable text beats an
+  // invisible link.
+  onPress?: TextProps["onPress"];
+  accessibilityRole?: TextProps["accessibilityRole"];
 }
 
 // Inline span backed by UITextView so iOS gets native word-selection handles.
 // Used inside MarkdownParagraphView (which is also a UITextView on iOS); the
 // library's TextAncestorContext hoists these into UITextViewChild nodes so
 // selection drags can cross sibling spans (e.g. plain text → **bold** → code).
-export function MarkdownTextSpan({ style, children }: MarkdownTextSpanProps) {
+export function MarkdownTextSpan({
+  style,
+  children,
+  onPress,
+  accessibilityRole,
+}: MarkdownTextSpanProps) {
   return (
-    <UITextView uiTextView selectable style={style}>
+    <UITextView
+      uiTextView
+      selectable
+      style={style}
+      onPress={onPress}
+      accessibilityRole={accessibilityRole}
+    >
       {children}
     </UITextView>
   );
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.web.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.web.tsx
index f918b2868..0d3a74753 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.web.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/markdown-text.web.tsx
@@ -1,11 +1,23 @@
 import { useMemo, type ReactNode } from "react";
-import { Text, View, type StyleProp, type TextStyle, type ViewStyle } from "react-native";
+import {
+  Text,
+  View,
+  type StyleProp,
+  type TextProps,
+  type TextStyle,
+  type ViewStyle,
+} from "react-native";
 import { CODE_SURFACE_DATASET } from "@/styles/code-surface";
 
 interface MarkdownTextSpanProps {
   style?: StyleProp<TextStyle>;
   monoSurface?: boolean;
   children: ReactNode;
+  // Web links use the <a>/Pressable path in link.tsx, not this span, so these
+  // are accepted for prop-shape parity with the native variants and forwarded
+  // harmlessly.
+  onPress?: TextProps["onPress"];
+  accessibilityRole?: TextProps["accessibilityRole"];
 }
 
 // react-native-web renders Text as <span>/<div> with `user-select: text`
@@ -13,9 +25,20 @@ interface MarkdownTextSpanProps {
 // react-native-uitextview: its transitive import of codegenNativeComponent
 // pulls in setUpReactDevTools, which doesn't resolve under Metro's web
 // target in dev mode.
-export function MarkdownTextSpan({ style, monoSurface, children }: MarkdownTextSpanProps) {
+export function MarkdownTextSpan({
+  style,
+  monoSurface,
+  children,
+  onPress,
+  accessibilityRole,
+}: MarkdownTextSpanProps) {
   return (
-    <Text dataSet={monoSurface ? CODE_SURFACE_DATASET : undefined} style={style}>
+    <Text
+      dataSet={monoSurface ? CODE_SURFACE_DATASET : undefined}
+      style={style}
+      onPress={onPress}
+      accessibilityRole={accessibilityRole}
+    >
       {children}
     </Text>
   );