diff --git a/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/AppKitRenderingStrategy.swift b/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/AppKitRenderingStrategy.swift
index e9c3654..a810efb 100644
--- a/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/AppKitRenderingStrategy.swift
+++ b/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/AppKitRenderingStrategy.swift
@@ -115,6 +115,23 @@ final class AppKitContainer: NSHostingController<EmergeModifierView>, ScrollExpa
   }
   var heightAnchor: NSLayoutConstraint?
   var previousHeight: CGFloat?
+  var pendingContentSizeRetries: Int = 0
+  var lastObservedContentHeight: CGFloat?
+  var pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries: Int = 0
+  var lastObservedIntrinsicSize: CGSize?
+
+  var hostFittingSize: CGSize? {
+    // NSView's `fittingSize` is the AppKit equivalent of UIKit's
+    // systemLayoutSizeFitting(compressedSize) and honors active layout
+    // constraints — same role in the settle loop.
+    view.fittingSize
+  }
+
+  // No setNeedsAnotherLayoutPass override — AppKit isn't exercised by our
+  // CI (we run iOS simulator only), so we accept the protocol's no-op default
+  // and the AppKit settle loop falls through to immediate completion. Avoids
+  // having to maintain an AppKit-correct re-entry mechanism for code we
+  // don't actually run.
 
   public var rendered: ((EmergeRenderingMode?, Float?, Bool?, Bool?) -> Void)? {
     didSet { didCall = false }
@@ -143,6 +160,11 @@ final class AppKitContainer: NSHostingController<EmergeModifierView>, ScrollExpa
     widthAnchor?.isActive = false
     heightAnchor = nil
     widthAnchor = nil
+    previousHeight = nil
+    pendingContentSizeRetries = 0
+    lastObservedContentHeight = nil
+    pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries = 0
+    lastObservedIntrinsicSize = nil
   }
 
   public func setupView(layout: PreviewLayout) {
diff --git a/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ExpandingViewController.swift b/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ExpandingViewController.swift
index 8f8110c..65b6423 100644
--- a/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ExpandingViewController.swift
+++ b/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ExpandingViewController.swift
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ public final class ExpandingViewController: UIHostingController<EmergeModifierVi
 
   private var didCall = false
   var previousHeight: CGFloat?
+  var pendingContentSizeRetries: Int = 0
+  var lastObservedContentHeight: CGFloat?
+  var pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries: Int = 0
+  var lastObservedIntrinsicSize: CGSize?
 
   var heightAnchor: NSLayoutConstraint?
   private var widthAnchor: NSLayoutConstraint?
@@ -43,6 +47,15 @@ public final class ExpandingViewController: UIHostingController<EmergeModifierVi
     }
     view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
     view.backgroundColor = .clear
+    // Pin safe-area-derived layout to a stable, zeroed value up front.
+    // UIHostingController otherwise resolves these insets across multiple
+    // layout passes (the host's safeAreaInsets propagate from the window /
+    // scene asynchronously), which translates the rendered content
+    // vertically run-to-run on layouts that read directionalLayoutMargins
+    // (e.g. screens with manual top/bottom padding via UILayoutGuide.
+    // safeAreaLayoutGuide). Zeroing them eliminates that source of drift.
+    view.insetsLayoutMarginsFromSafeArea = false
+    view.directionalLayoutMargins = .zero
   }
 
   @MainActor required dynamic init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
@@ -55,6 +68,23 @@ public final class ExpandingViewController: UIHostingController<EmergeModifierVi
     heightAnchor = nil
     widthAnchor = nil
     previousHeight = nil
+    pendingContentSizeRetries = 0
+    lastObservedContentHeight = nil
+    pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries = 0
+    lastObservedIntrinsicSize = nil
+    didAppear = false
+  }
+
+  var hostFittingSize: CGSize? {
+    // systemLayoutSizeFitting honors the active height/width anchors, which
+    // makes it the canonical "what would this view want to render at" value
+    // we're racing to stabilize. UILayoutFittingCompressedSize asks for the
+    // smallest size satisfying constraints, matching the snapshot intent.
+    view.systemLayoutSizeFitting(UIView.layoutFittingCompressedSize)
+  }
+
+  func setNeedsAnotherLayoutPass() {
+    view.setNeedsLayout()
   }
 
   public func setupView(layout: PreviewLayout) {
@@ -82,8 +112,30 @@ public final class ExpandingViewController: UIHostingController<EmergeModifierVi
     stopAndResetTimer()
   }
 
+  // Tracks whether viewDidAppear has fired. Layout passes that fire BEFORE
+  // the view appears can read a transient view tree — e.g. a SwiftUI body
+  // that returns EmptyView while @State is still nil and only mutates to its
+  // final value inside viewDidAppear (`SelfRewardClaimViewController` was the
+  // canary case: width collapsed 1418 → 786 in some captures because the
+  // a11y legend depended on content the body wasn't yet rendering). Settling
+  // on those passes locks in the wrong dimensions. Gating the settle loop
+  // on this flag means we only commit after viewDidAppear has fired and any
+  // state changes it triggers have had a chance to propagate.
+  private var didAppear = false
+
   public override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
     super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
+    if didAppear {
+      updateScrollViewHeight()
+    }
+  }
+
+  public override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
+    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
+    didAppear = true
+    // Kick off the first settle attempt now that any viewDidAppear-driven
+    // state mutations have had their chance to fire. The retry-on-instability
+    // loop takes over from here via setNeedsLayout → next viewDidLayoutSubviews.
     updateScrollViewHeight()
   }
 
diff --git a/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ScrollExpansion.swift b/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ScrollExpansion.swift
index 81c2781..4537894 100644
--- a/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ScrollExpansion.swift
+++ b/Sources/SnapshotPreviewsCore/ScrollExpansion.swift
@@ -29,10 +29,46 @@ protocol ScrollExpansionProviding: AnyObject, FirstScrollViewProviding {
   var previousHeight: CGFloat? { get set }
   var heightAnchor: NSLayoutConstraint? { get }
   var supportsExpansion: Bool { get }
+  // Tracks how many times we've deferred completion waiting for the inner
+  // scroll view's contentSize to stabilize. iOS 18 reordered hosting
+  // controller layout passes so the inner UIKit layout (where contentSize
+  // is assigned) can lag — and may land at a partial value before the
+  // final one — without this counter we'd race into complete() at the
+  // wrong height.
+  var pendingContentSizeRetries: Int { get set }
+  // Last contentSize observation. Used to detect stabilization: we only
+  // commit when two consecutive passes report the same height.
+  var lastObservedContentHeight: CGFloat? { get set }
+  // Tracks how many times we've deferred completion waiting for the host's
+  // intrinsic-content-size / fitting size to stabilize on the non-scroll
+  // path. Same iOS 18 hosting-controller pass-reordering issue as the scroll
+  // counter, but for views that don't have an inner UIScrollView (e.g. a
+  // hosting controller wrapping a fixed-layout SwiftUI view).
+  var pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries: Int { get set }
+  // Last intrinsic-size observation. Used to detect stabilization: we only
+  // commit when two consecutive passes report the same fitting size.
+  var lastObservedIntrinsicSize: CGSize? { get set }
+  // The host's currently-resolved fitting size. Implementations return
+  // `view.systemLayoutSizeFitting(...)` (UIKit) or
+  // `view.fittingSize` (AppKit). Returning nil signals "no useful intrinsic
+  // size to wait on" — settle loop falls through to immediate completion.
+  var hostFittingSize: CGSize? { get }
+  // Asks the host to schedule another layout pass. UIKit hosts implement
+  // this as view.setNeedsLayout(); AppKit / unsupported platforms can no-op.
+  func setNeedsAnotherLayoutPass()
 }
 
 extension ScrollExpansionProviding {
+  func setNeedsAnotherLayoutPass() {}
+
+  var hostFittingSize: CGSize? { nil }
+
   func updateHeight(_ complete: (() -> Void)) {
+    // Cap on contentSize-not-stabilized retries before we give up and complete
+    // anyway. Prevents an infinite wait on a genuinely empty / animating view.
+    let maxPendingContentSizeRetries = 10
+    // Symmetric cap for the intrinsic-size settle loop.
+    let maxPendingIntrinsicSizeRetries = 10
     // If heightAnchor isn't set, this was a fixed size and we don't expand the scroll view
     guard let heightAnchor else {
       complete()
@@ -42,6 +78,21 @@ extension ScrollExpansionProviding {
     let supportsExpansion = supportsExpansion
     let scrollView = firstScrollView
     if let scrollView, supportsExpansion {
+      // Stabilization: scroll content can land at a partial height before its
+      // final size when SwiftUI hosting / UIKit child layout completes in
+      // multiple passes. We retry until we see the same non-zero contentHeight
+      // on two consecutive passes — a stable observation — before committing.
+      // Without this, we capture at intermediate layout states and produce
+      // run-to-run dimension drift on iOS 18 / Apple Silicon.
+      let currentContentHeight = scrollView.contentHeight
+      guard previousHeight != nil
+              || (currentContentHeight > 0 && lastObservedContentHeight == currentContentHeight)
+              || pendingContentSizeRetries >= maxPendingContentSizeRetries else {
+        lastObservedContentHeight = currentContentHeight
+        pendingContentSizeRetries += 1
+        setNeedsAnotherLayoutPass()
+        return
+      }
       let diff = Int(scrollView.contentHeight - scrollView.visibleContentHeight)
       if abs(diff) > 0 {
         if previousHeight != nil || diff > 0 {
@@ -62,6 +113,27 @@ extension ScrollExpansionProviding {
         complete()
       }
     } else {
+      // Non-scroll path. UIHostingController's two-pass layout can also drop
+      // intrinsic content size into the host view *after* the first
+      // viewDidLayoutSubviews — same race as the scroll-view path, but
+      // observed via systemLayoutSizeFitting / fittingSize instead of
+      // contentSize. Wait until two consecutive passes report the same
+      // fitting size before committing.
+      guard let fittingSize = hostFittingSize,
+            fittingSize.width > 0 || fittingSize.height > 0 else {
+        // Either the host doesn't expose a fitting size, or it returned
+        // (noIntrinsicMetric, noIntrinsicMetric)-equivalent zeros — there's
+        // nothing meaningful to wait on, complete immediately.
+        complete()
+        return
+      }
+      guard lastObservedIntrinsicSize == fittingSize
+              || pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries >= maxPendingIntrinsicSizeRetries else {
+        lastObservedIntrinsicSize = fittingSize
+        pendingIntrinsicSizeRetries += 1
+        setNeedsAnotherLayoutPass()
+        return
+      }
       complete()
     }
   }