iOS 26 UISearchController always appears at the bottom instead of top with preferredSearchBarPlacement = .stacked

Hi everyone,

I’m running into a strange issue with UISearchController placement with iOS 26 SDK. In one of my view controllers, I was able to move the search bar to the top of the navigation bar by setting:

navigationItem.searchController = searchController
navigationItem.hidesSearchBarWhenScrolling = false
navigationItem.preferredSearchBarPlacement = .stacked

This works as expected — the search bar is placed at the top.

However, in another view controller with almost identical configuration, the search bar always shows up at the bottom. If I delay the setup with DispatchQueue.main.async, it appears at the bottom; if I don’t, it doesn’t appear at all. Both VCs are wrapped in their own UINavigationController.

So my questions are:

• Has anyone faced this issue where preferredSearchBarPlacement = .stacked is ignored?
• Are there hidden requirements or limitations for placing the search bar at the top?
• Why could the same setup behave differently in two controllers?

Any help or ideas would be appreciated!