Hey, I stumbled on this thread looking for a fix for this bug and I think I found one for Nova Launcher. (Haven't run into it for the last few hours of use, but I'll give an update if the bug happens again. You could try it out and see if it works.)
Spec:
Poco F3
Nova Prime 7
MIUI by Xiaomi.eu 12.5.6 Stable
Set Launcher to Default (Settings > Home Screen > Default Launcher > System Launcher )
Set Theme to Default (Themes App> My Account >Themes > Default > Apply)
Turn on Gestures (Settings > Search "System Navigation" > Select Gestures instead of Buttons)
You should see the gesture bar at the bottom.
Switch to Nova Launcher (you should still have a gesture bar at this point.)
While you're in Nova Launcher, turn off all Nova Gesture (Nova Settings > Gesture & Input > Turn off everything).
Set the default launcher as Nova (while still in Nova.) This should get rid of the gesture bar and bring back the on-screen navigation. At this point, you can open Recent again without the disappearing bug.
Other:
I change my wallpaper through Nova Launcher (click and hold on home screen) and lock screen wallpaper through the Themes app, but changing the Lock screen style from any other theme causes the bug again. I can still use gestures (3 fingers to screenshot, double-tap to wake)
Idk if any of these make a difference but I use:
- Notification Shade > Android
- Control Center Style > Old version
Hope this works for someone else.