diff --git a/mobile/android/base/home/HomePager.java b/mobile/android/base/home/HomePager.java
index d07debd36d5c..52512320de4d 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/home/HomePager.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/home/HomePager.java
@@ -96,6 +96,13 @@ public class HomePager extends ViewPager {
         // This is to keep all 4 pages in memory after they are
         // selected in the pager.
         setOffscreenPageLimit(3);
+
+        //  We can call HomePager.requestFocus to steal focus from the URL bar and drop the soft
+        //  keyboard. However, if there are no focusable views (e.g. an empty reading list), the
+        //  URL bar will be refocused. Therefore, we make the HomePager container focusable to
+        //  ensure there is always a focusable view. This would ordinarily be done via an XML
+        //  attribute, but it is not working properly.
+        setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -324,10 +331,7 @@ public class HomePager extends ViewPager {
     @Override
     public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
         if (event.getActionMasked() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {
-            // XXX: Drop the soft keyboard by stealing focus. Note that the HomePager (via XML
-            // attr) is focusable after its descendants allowing requestFocus to succeed and drop
-            // the soft keyboard even if there are no other focusable views on the screen (e.g.
-            // the Reading List is empty).
+            // Drop the soft keyboard by stealing focus from the URL bar.
             requestFocus();
         }