I think i found the issue, as somehow xcode 26.1 and iOS 26.1 simulator helped me reproduce this fairly. The problem was I had two UIBarButtonItem created as the class level for a subclass of UINavigationController. Now, when they were getting reused due to pushViewController under the same navigationController the buttons were reused for every new controller class A: UINavigationController { let x = UIBarButton() ley y = UIBarButton() func foo() { viewController.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = x viewController.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = y } } It was working so far without issue except when 26.1 came in. if i modify it to locally create buttons for every viewController it works fine but curious what has changed recently in UIKit of OS 26.1 that its not liking the re-use. class A: UINavigationController { ley y = UIBarButton() func foo() { let x = UIBarButton() viewController.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = x let y = UIBarButton() viewController.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = y } }