[BUG] MediaElement 7.0.0 and 8.0.0 causes crash on iOS 26.1 when navigating shell pages

[KeithBoynton]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Did you read the "Reporting a bug" section on Contributing file?

• I have read the "Reporting a bug" section on Contributing file: https://github.com/CommunityToolkit/Maui/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#reporting-a-bug

Current Behavior

This is not an issue on Windows, MacCatalyst or Android.

When a MediaElement is present on a page then navigating pages using the shell menu causes a UIViewControllerHierarchyInconsistency crash on iOS 26.1 onwards. It works fine on 26.0.1 and below and fails on 26.1 and above so looks like it was introduced by some change in 26.1.

It works on the 1st navigation but happens on the 2nd navigation attempt regardless of which page you're navigating to. Once you've navigated the second time the Shell navigation becomes unresponsive.

Expected Behavior

Navigation should not become unresponsive after navigation between pages on iOS.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Open and run the solution from the reproduction repository targeted at an iOS simulator
2. Using the shell hamburger, navigate to Projects then navigate back to Dashboard
3. Crashes and navigation is no longer responsive

Link to public reproduction project repository

https://bitbucket.org/KeithBoynton/media-element-shell-issue/src/master/

Environment

- .NET MAUI MediaElement: 7.0.0
- OS: iOS 26.1
- .NET MAUI: 10.0.31

Anything else?

Crash looks like this (full dump attached):

Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Handlers.Compatibility.ShellRenderer: Warning: Failed on changing current item

ObjCRuntime.ObjCException: Objective-C exception thrown.  Name: UIViewControllerHierarchyInconsistency Reason: child view controller:<AVPlayerViewController: 0x194df4800> should have parent view controller:<Microsoft_Maui_Platform_PageViewController: 0x1081a69f0> but actual parent is:<Microsoft_Maui_Platform_PageViewController: 0x1081501d0>

Not sure whether it's relevant but this is the only "similar" issue I could find:
#1110

MediaElementCrash.txt

[bijington]

There really isn't much detail here https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ios-ipados-release-notes/ios-ipados-26_1-release-notes. @ne0rrmatrix as our resident MediaElement expert - do know what this might relate to?

[ne0rrmatrix]

I plan to take a look at this today. I am pretty sure I know what is causing the issue. Not 100 percent but there is an issue that has been ongoing for years with how we handle the controls that usually breaks something every other release.

[KeithBoynton]

I've just updated MediaElement to version 8.0.0 and can confirm it still crashes with the same issue

MediaElementCrashV8.txt

[ne0rrmatrix]

I have verified the issue with the provided sample.

[ne0rrmatrix]

I tested removing the controls and not adding them to parent view controller. That mitigated the issue but it is not a solution. I have asked someone on the team who knows IOS view controllers about taking a look at it.