From 054181237c39875166876144d4b65035e7d60bbf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mark de Vocht <markd@wix.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 23:34:52 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix

---
 ios/BottomTabPresenter.mm   | 5 ++++-
 ios/RNNTabBarItemCreator.mm | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ios/BottomTabPresenter.mm b/ios/BottomTabPresenter.mm
index 367a6dfbeb0..e8fda7f80c1 100644
--- a/ios/BottomTabPresenter.mm
+++ b/ios/BottomTabPresenter.mm
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ - (void)mergeOptions:(RNNNavigationOptions *)mergeOptions
 
 - (void)createTabBarItem:(UIViewController *)child
         bottomTabOptions:(RNNBottomTabOptions *)bottomTabOptions {
-    child.tabBarItem = [_tabCreator createTabBarItem:bottomTabOptions mergeItem:child.tabBarItem];
+    UITabBarItem *updatedItem = [_tabCreator createTabBarItem:bottomTabOptions mergeItem:child.tabBarItem];
+    if (updatedItem != child.tabBarItem) {
+        child.tabBarItem = updatedItem;
+    }
 }
 
 @end
diff --git a/ios/RNNTabBarItemCreator.mm b/ios/RNNTabBarItemCreator.mm
index 10d4b615a4e..a6161cd0d69 100644
--- a/ios/RNNTabBarItemCreator.mm
+++ b/ios/RNNTabBarItemCreator.mm
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 @implementation RNNTabBarItemCreator
 
 - (UITabBarItem *)createTabBarItem:(UITabBarItem *)mergeItem {
-    return [UITabBarItem new];
+    return mergeItem ?: [UITabBarItem new];
 }
 
 - (UITabBarItem *)createTabBarItem:(RNNBottomTabOptions *)bottomTabOptions

From a744ebef23be067f5a7bfdadbe67c0ba6793170b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mark de Vocht <markd@wix.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:17:13 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] test update

---
 playground/ios/NavigationTests/BottomTabPresenterTest.mm | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/playground/ios/NavigationTests/BottomTabPresenterTest.mm b/playground/ios/NavigationTests/BottomTabPresenterTest.mm
index e23bb455c9f..176d873ea0a 100644
--- a/playground/ios/NavigationTests/BottomTabPresenterTest.mm
+++ b/playground/ios/NavigationTests/BottomTabPresenterTest.mm
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ - (void)testMergeOptions_shouldSetTabBarItemColorWithDefaultOptions {
     XCTAssertEqual(self.componentViewController.tabBarItem.title, @"title");
 }
 
-- (void)testMergeOptions_shouldCreateNewTabBarItemInstance {
+- (void)testMergeOptions_shouldReuseExistingTabBarItemInstance {
     RNNNavigationOptions *defaultOptions = [RNNNavigationOptions emptyOptions];
     defaultOptions.bottomTab.selectedIconColor = [Color withColor:UIColor.greenColor];
     self.uut.defaultOptions = defaultOptions;
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ - (void)testMergeOptions_shouldCreateNewTabBarItemInstance {
     [self.uut mergeOptions:mergeOptions
            resolvedOptions:self.options
                      child:self.componentViewController];
-    UITabBarItem *newTabBarItem = self.componentViewController.tabBarItem;
-    XCTAssertNotEqual(currentTabBarItem, newTabBarItem);
+    UITabBarItem *updatedTabBarItem = self.componentViewController.tabBarItem;
+    XCTAssertEqual(currentTabBarItem, updatedTabBarItem);
 }
 
 @end