diff --git a/.github/workflows/r-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/r-ci.yml
index 893144c3cc..99df796239 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/r-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/r-ci.yml
@@ -52,11 +52,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Bootstrap
         run: cd apis/r && tools/r-ci.sh bootstrap
 
-      - name: Set pkgType to binary (macOS)
-        if: ${{ matrix.os == 'macOS-latest' }}
-        run: cat("\noptions(pkgType = 'binary')\n", file = "~/.Rprofile", append = TRUE)
-        shell: Rscript {0}
-
       - name: Install BioConductor package SingleCellExperiment
         run: cd apis/r && tools/r-ci.sh install_bioc SingleCellExperiment
 
@@ -89,12 +84,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Dependencies
         run: cd apis/r && tools/r-ci.sh install_all
 
-      - name: Install dataset packages from source (macOS)
-        if: ${{ matrix.os == 'macOS-latest' }}
-        run: cd apis/r && _CI_PKG_TYPE_=both _CI_USE_BIOC_=true Rscript tools/install_missing_deps.R
+      # - name: Install dataset packages from source (macOS)
+      #   if: ${{ matrix.os == 'macOS-latest' }}
+      #   run: cd apis/r && _CI_PKG_TYPE_=both _CI_USE_BIOC_=true Rscript tools/install_missing_deps.R
 
-      - name: CMake
-        uses: lukka/get-cmake@latest
+      # - name: CMake
+      #   uses: lukka/get-cmake@latest
 
       #- name: MkVars
       #  run: mkdir ~/.R && echo "CXX17FLAGS=-Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wno-deprecated" > ~/.R/Makevars
@@ -106,8 +101,8 @@ jobs:
       #  if: ${{ matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest' }}
       #  run: sudo ldconfig
       #
-      - name: Update Packages
-        run: Rscript -e 'update.packages(ask=FALSE)'
+      # - name: Update Packages
+      #   run: Rscript -e 'update.packages(ask=FALSE)'
 
       # - name: Build Package
       #   run: cd apis/r && R CMD build --no-build-vignettes --no-manual .
diff --git a/apis/r/tools/r-ci.sh b/apis/r/tools/r-ci.sh
index b8e9ad4ca2..5ccaf31972 100755
--- a/apis/r/tools/r-ci.sh
+++ b/apis/r/tools/r-ci.sh
@@ -15,9 +15,13 @@ set -e
 # Or ratherm set it for a lot noisier output
 # set -x
 
-CRAN=${CRAN:-"https://cloud.r-project.org"}
+# Where do we run? OS can be 'Linux' or 'Darwin', ARCH can be 'x86_64' or 'arm64'
 OS=$(uname -s)
-RVER=${RVER:-"4.3.2"}
+ARCH=$(uname -m)
+
+# Default CRAN repo (use the CDN) and R verssion
+CRAN=${CRAN:-"https://cloud.r-project.org"}
+RVER=${RVER:-"4.3.3"}
 
 ## Optional drat repos, unset by default
 DRAT_REPOS=${DRAT_REPOS:-""}
@@ -213,11 +217,10 @@ BootstrapLinuxOptions() {
 }
 
 BootstrapMac() {
-    # Install from latest CRAN binary build for OS X
-    echo "Downloading ${RVER} for macOS"
-    wget ${CRAN}/bin/macosx/big-sur-x86_64/base/R-${RVER}-x86_64.pkg -O /tmp/R-latest.pkg
+    # Install from latest CRAN binary build for OS X (given ${ARCH} from 'uname -m')
+    wget ${CRAN}/bin/macosx/big-sur-${ARCH}/base/R-${RVER}-${ARCH}.pkg  -O /tmp/R-latest.pkg
 
-    echo "Installing macOS binary package for R"
+    echo "Installing macOS binary package for R on ${ARCH}"
     sudo installer -pkg "/tmp/R-latest.pkg" -target /
     rm "/tmp/R-latest.pkg"