Changing Shell Tab Visibility when navigating back multiple pages ignores Shell Tab Visibility

[TrueMoniker]

Description

While navigating back multiple pages, ie Shell.Current.GoToAsync("../.."), if I change the Shell Tab Bar visiblity, the tab bar is not visible.

Steps to Reproduce

An Example repro is provided for your convenience.

1. Create a new project
2. In the Shell, add a tab bar with a tab in it.
3. Add a page that is opened from the tab bar's page.
4. Add a page that is opened from the page you just added
5. On the last page, add a button
6. In the button, navigate back two pages: await Shell.Current.GoToAsync("../..");
7. In the Tab Bar's OnAppearing, show the tab bar: Shell.SetTabBarIsVisible(<your Shell>, true));
8. In the navigation from tab bar's page to the first page, hide the tab bar: Shell.SetTabBarIsVisible(<your Shell>, false));

Link to public reproduction project repository

TrueMoniker/Maui_BugDemo_ShellVisibilityOnNavigation

Version with bug

9.0.0 GA

Is this a regression from previous behavior?

Yes, this used to work in .NET MAUI

Last version that worked well

.NET 6

Affected platforms

iOS, Android

Affected platform versions

Confirmed on ios 26.2, Android 15

Did you find any workaround?

If I navigate back by individual pages, ie Shell.Current.GoToAsync(".."); Shell.Current.GoToAsync(".."), it works fine. Though that does cause an odd visual behavior because of closing two pages.

Thank you for the assistance!

[kubaflo]

Triage Summary

Verified: ✅ Reproduction project provided

• Regression Window: .NET 6 (working) → 9.0.0 GA (broken)
• Severity: P1 - High impact navigation issue
• Impact: Shell tab bar visibility broken with multi-page relative navigation
• Workaround Available: ✅ Navigate pages individually

Issue Details

When using Shell.Current.GoToAsync("../..") to navigate back multiple pages while setting Shell.SetTabBarIsVisible(), the tab bar visibility state is not applied correctly.

Expected: Tab bar should become visible when returning to root page
Actual: Tab bar remains hidden

Workaround: Sequential navigation works:

await Shell.Current.GoToAsync("..");
await Shell.Current.GoToAsync("..");

Root Cause Hypothesis

The relative navigation "../.." may not be triggering page lifecycle events (OnAppearing) correctly, causing the tab bar visibility command to be ignored or executed at the wrong time in the navigation stack.

Recommended Actions

1. Priority: P1 - Common navigation pattern affected
2. Team Assignment: Shell navigation team
3. Investigation:
   • Compare lifecycle event timing between "../.." and sequential ".." navigation
   • Check if tab bar visibility updates are being queued correctly
   • Verify navigation stack state when visibility changes are applied

Labels Applied

• area-shell - Shell navigation
• platform/iOS - Affects iOS
• platform/android - Affects Android
• i/regression - Worked in .NET 6
• p/1 - High priority
• s/verified - Has reproduction project
• s/triaged - Marked as triaged

Additional Context

Reproduction project: https://github.com/TrueMoniker/Maui_BugDemo_ShellVisibilityOnNavigation

cc @PureWeen for Shell navigation team

[HarishKumarSF4517]

This issue has been validated in Visual Studio Code 1.107.1 with MAUI versions (9.0.0, 9.0.120, 10.0.0-preview.1, 10.0.0-rc.2, 10.0.0 & 10.0.20). It can be reproducible on Android and iOS platform