diff --git a/scripts/hermes/hermes-utils.js b/scripts/hermes/hermes-utils.js
index 1dc2bba067d6c8..d9db7a4aba61ce 100644
--- a/scripts/hermes/hermes-utils.js
+++ b/scripts/hermes/hermes-utils.js
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ const {execSync} = require('child_process');
 
 const SDKS_DIR = path.normalize(path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'sdks'));
 const HERMES_DIR = path.join(SDKS_DIR, 'hermes');
-const DEFAULT_HERMES_TAG = 'main';
 const HERMES_TAG_FILE_PATH = path.join(SDKS_DIR, '.hermesversion');
 const HERMES_TARBALL_BASE_URL = 'https://github.com/facebook/hermes/tarball/';
 const HERMES_TARBALL_DOWNLOAD_DIR = path.join(SDKS_DIR, 'download');
@@ -162,65 +161,8 @@ function isTestingAgainstLocalHermesTarball() {
   return 'HERMES_ENGINE_TARBALL_PATH' in process.env;
 }
 
-function isOnAReactNativeReleaseBranch() {
-  try {
-    let currentBranch = execSync('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD')
-      .toString()
-      .trim();
-    let currentRemote = execSync('git config --get remote.origin.url')
-      .toString()
-      .trim();
-    return (
-      currentBranch.endsWith('-stable') &&
-      currentRemote.endsWith('facebook/react-native.git')
-    );
-  } catch (error) {
-    // If not inside a git repo, we're going to fail here and return.
-    return false;
-  }
-}
-
-function isOnAReactNativeReleaseTag() {
-  try {
-    // If on a named tag, this method will return the tag name.
-    // If not, it will throw as the return code is not 0.
-    execSync('git describe --exact-match HEAD', {stdio: 'ignore'});
-  } catch (error) {
-    return false;
-  }
-  let currentRemote = execSync('git config --get remote.origin.url')
-    .toString()
-    .trim();
-  return currentRemote.endsWith('facebook/react-native.git');
-}
-
-function isRequestingLatestCommitFromHermesMainBranch() {
-  const hermesTag = readHermesTag();
-  return hermesTag === DEFAULT_HERMES_TAG;
-}
-
-function isPRAgainstStable(pullRequest) {
-  if (pullRequest == null) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  const prComponents = pullRequest.split('/');
-  const prNumber = prComponents[prComponents.length - 1];
-  const apiURL = `https://api.github.com/repos/facebook/react-native/pulls/${prNumber}`;
-  const prJson = JSON.parse(execSync(`curl ${apiURL}`).toString());
-  const baseBranch = prJson.base.label;
-
-  return baseBranch.endsWith('-stable');
-}
-
-function shouldBuildHermesFromSource(pullRequest) {
-  return (
-    !isTestingAgainstLocalHermesTarball() &&
-    (isOnAReactNativeReleaseBranch() ||
-      isOnAReactNativeReleaseTag() ||
-      isPRAgainstStable(pullRequest) ||
-      isRequestingLatestCommitFromHermesMainBranch())
-  );
+function shouldBuildHermesFromSource(isInCI) {
+  return !isTestingAgainstLocalHermesTarball() && isInCI;
 }
 
 function shouldUsePrebuiltHermesC(os) {
diff --git a/scripts/hermes/prepare-hermes-for-build.js b/scripts/hermes/prepare-hermes-for-build.js
index 42b33bad58a0dc..140d9f3a4380d0 100644
--- a/scripts/hermes/prepare-hermes-for-build.js
+++ b/scripts/hermes/prepare-hermes-for-build.js
@@ -23,12 +23,11 @@ const {
   shouldBuildHermesFromSource,
 } = require('./hermes-utils');
 
-async function main(pullRequest) {
-  if (!shouldBuildHermesFromSource(pullRequest)) {
+async function main(isInCI) {
+  if (!shouldBuildHermesFromSource(isInCI)) {
     copyPodSpec();
     return;
   }
-
   downloadHermesTarball();
   expandHermesTarball();
   copyPodSpec();
@@ -40,8 +39,8 @@ async function main(pullRequest) {
   }
 }
 
-const pullRequest = process.argv.length > 2 ? process.argv[2] : null;
-console.log(`Pull request detected: ${pullRequest}`);
-main(pullRequest).then(() => {
+const isInCI = process.env.CI === 'true';
+
+main(isInCI).then(() => {
   process.exit(0);
 });
diff --git a/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec b/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
index 8d331e096ad2e0..430ab9e7639a6c 100644
--- a/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
+++ b/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import_hermesc_file=File.join(__dir__, "..", "hermesc", "osx-bin", "ImportHermes
 package_file = File.join(__dir__, "..", "..", "package.json")
 package = JSON.parse(File.read(package_file))
 version = package['version']
+isInCI = ENV['CI'] == true
+hermestag_file = File.join(__dir__, "..", ".hermesversion")
 
 # We need to check the current git branch/remote to verify if
 # we're on a React Native release branch to actually build Hermes.
@@ -29,9 +31,8 @@ elsif version == '1000.0.0'
   Pod::UI.puts '[Hermes] Hermes needs to be compiled, installing hermes-engine may take a while...'.yellow if Object.const_defined?("Pod::UI")
   source[:git] = git
   source[:commit] = `git ls-remote https://github.com/facebook/hermes main | cut -f 1`.strip
-elsif currentremote.strip.end_with?("facebook/react-native.git") and currentbranch.strip.end_with?("-stable")
+elsif File.exists?(hermestag_file) && isInCI
   Pod::UI.puts '[Hermes] Detected that you are on a React Native release branch, building Hermes from source...'.yellow if Object.const_defined?("Pod::UI")
-  hermestag_file = File.join(__dir__, "..", ".hermesversion")
   hermestag = File.read(hermestag_file).strip
   source[:git] = git
   source[:tag] = hermestag