UIViewControllerHierarchyInconsistency crash when RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1 on iOS

Description

When running a React Native app with New Architecture enabled (RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1), the app crashes on iOS with the following error:

Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'UIViewControllerHierarchyInconsistency',
reason: 'child view controller:<RNSViewController: 0x10737c1d0> should have parent
view controller:(null) but actual parent is:<RNSScreen: 0x10988a400>'

This issue does not occur when running with Old Architecture (RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=0).

Crash Log (truncated):

*** First throw call stack:
(
0 CoreFoundation __exceptionPreprocess + 172
1 libobjc.A.dylib objc_exception_throw + 72
2 UIKitCore -[UIView(Hierarchy) _associatedViewControllerForwardsAppearanceCallbacks...]
3 UIKitCore -[UIView(Hierarchy) _willMoveToWindow:withAncestorView:]
4 UIKitCore -[UIView(Internal) _addSubview:positioned:relativeTo:]
...
libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException
)

Steps to reproduce

Create a new React Native project or upgrade to RN 0.77.0.

Install the following dependencies:

"react-native": "0.77.0",
"react-native-screens": "4.5.0",
"react-native-gesture-handler": "2.22.1",
"react-native-reanimated": "3.18.0",
"expo": "52.0.0"

Enable New Architecture by setting RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1.

Run the iOS app.

Observe crash during navigation transitions.

Snack or a link to a repository

None

Screens version

4.5.0

React Native version

0.77.0

Platforms

iOS

JavaScript runtime

None

Workflow

None

Architecture

None

Build type

Debug mode

Device

iOS simulator

Device model

iPhone 16 Pro

Acknowledgements

Yes

Reproduce the crash in a React Native 0.77.0 app using react-native-screens 4.5.0 and RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1 on the iOS simulator. Start with the navigation transition that triggers the UIViewControllerHierarchyInconsistency error and compare it with the old architecture. Done means the supplied dependency set no longer crashes during iOS navigation transitions under the new architecture.