diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Main/MainSidebarViewController.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Main/MainSidebarViewController.swift
index 539223284a..9fa017063d 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Main/MainSidebarViewController.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Main/MainSidebarViewController.swift
@@ -448,6 +448,20 @@ extension MainSidebarViewController: UICollectionViewDelegate {
             sidebarDelegate?.sidebar(self, didSelectItem: item)
         }
     }
+    
+    @available(iOS 15.0, *)
+    func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, selectionFollowsFocusForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> Bool {
+        guard let item = dataSource.itemIdentifier(for: indexPath) else {
+            return true
+        }
+        // don't immediately select items that present VCs when the they're focused, only when deliberately selected
+        switch item {
+        case .tab(.compose), .addList, .addSavedHashtag, .addSavedInstance:
+            return false
+        default:
+            return true
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 extension MainSidebarViewController: UICollectionViewDragDelegate {