diff --git a/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/MarkdownView.tsx b/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/MarkdownView.tsx
index 0cb1d54cb7..e596d945a1 100644
--- a/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/MarkdownView.tsx
+++ b/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/MarkdownView.tsx
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ export const MarkdownView = React.memo((props: {
                     } else if (block.type === 'options') {
                         return <RenderOptionsBlock items={block.items} key={index} first={index === 0} last={index === blocks.length - 1} selectable={selectable} onOptionPress={props.onOptionPress} />;
                     } else if (block.type === 'table') {
-                        return <RenderTableBlock headers={block.headers} rows={block.rows} key={index} first={index === 0} last={index === blocks.length - 1} />;
+                        return <RenderTableBlock headers={block.headers} rows={block.rows} key={index} first={index === 0} last={index === blocks.length - 1} selectable={selectable} />;
                     } else {
                         return null;
                     }
@@ -235,7 +235,8 @@ function RenderTableBlock(props: {
     headers: string[],
     rows: string[][],
     first: boolean,
-    last: boolean
+    last: boolean,
+    selectable: boolean
 }) {
     const columnCount = props.headers.length;
     const rowCount = props.rows.length;
@@ -261,7 +262,7 @@ function RenderTableBlock(props: {
                         >
                             {/* Header cell for this column */}
                             <View style={[style.tableCell, style.tableHeaderCell, style.tableCellFirst]}>
-                                <Text style={style.tableHeaderText}>{header}</Text>
+                                <Text selectable={props.selectable} style={style.tableHeaderText}>{header}</Text>
                             </View>
                             {/* Data cells for this column */}
                             {props.rows.map((row, rowIndex) => (
@@ -272,7 +273,7 @@ function RenderTableBlock(props: {
                                         isLastRow(rowIndex) && style.tableCellLast
                                     ]}
                                 >
-                                    <Text style={style.tableCellText}>{row[colIndex] ?? ''}</Text>
+                                    <Text selectable={props.selectable} style={style.tableCellText}>{row[colIndex] ?? ''}</Text>
                                 </View>
                             ))}
                         </View>
@@ -526,6 +527,7 @@ const style = StyleSheet.create((theme) => ({
         borderBottomWidth: 1,
         borderBottomColor: theme.colors.divider,
         alignItems: 'flex-start',
+        minHeight: 40, // padding (8+8) + lineHeight (24) to prevent empty cell collapse
     },
     tableCellFirst: {
         borderTopWidth: 0,
diff --git a/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/parseMarkdownBlock.ts b/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/parseMarkdownBlock.ts
index 03d76563b8..fe122d47ef 100644
--- a/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/parseMarkdownBlock.ts
+++ b/packages/happy-app/sources/components/markdown/parseMarkdownBlock.ts
@@ -23,12 +23,11 @@ function parseTable(lines: string[], startIndex: number): { table: MarkdownBlock
         return { table: null, nextIndex: startIndex };
     }
 
-    // Extract header cells from the first line, filtering out empty cells that may result from leading/trailing pipes
-    const headerLine = tableLines[0].trim();
+    // Extract header cells from the first line, stripping leading/trailing pipes but preserving empty interior cells
+    const headerLine = tableLines[0].trim().replace(/^\||\|$/g, '');
     const headers = headerLine
         .split('|')
-        .map(cell => cell.trim())
-        .filter(cell => cell.length > 0);
+        .map(cell => cell.trim());
 
     if (headers.length === 0) {
         return { table: null, nextIndex: startIndex };
@@ -39,15 +38,11 @@ function parseTable(lines: string[], startIndex: number): { table: MarkdownBlock
     for (let i = 2; i < tableLines.length; i++) {
         const rowLine = tableLines[i].trim();
         if (rowLine.startsWith('|')) {
-            const rowCells = rowLine
+            const rowCells = rowLine.replace(/^\||\|$/g, '')
                 .split('|')
-                .map(cell => cell.trim())
-                .filter(cell => cell.length > 0);
+                .map(cell => cell.trim());
 
-            // Include rows that contain actual content, filtering out empty rows
-            if (rowCells.length > 0) {
-                rows.push(rowCells);
-            }
+            rows.push(rowCells);
         }
     }