diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 7325c3278a797..22d769db897e5 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -217,7 +217,8 @@ jobs:
       NX_E2E_CI_CACHE_KEY: e2e-circleci-macos
       NX_DAEMON: 'true'
       NX_PERF_LOGGING: 'false'
-      SELECTED_PM: 'npm' # use the previous runner
+      SELECTED_PM: 'npm' # explicitly define npm for macOS tests
+      NODE_OPTIONS: --max_old_space_size=8192
     steps:
       - run:
           name: Set dynamic nx run variable
diff --git a/e2e/expo/src/expo.test.ts b/e2e/expo/src/expo.test.ts
index 139fb29b112ff..0fb23c96ccfc7 100644
--- a/e2e/expo/src/expo.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/expo/src/expo.test.ts
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ import {
   checkFilesExist,
   cleanupProject,
   expectTestsPass,
+  getSelectedPackageManager,
   killPorts,
   newProject,
+  packageInstall,
   promisifiedTreeKill,
   readJson,
   readResolvedConfiguration,
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ describe('expo', () => {
 
   beforeAll(() => {
     proj = newProject();
+    packageInstall('react-native', null, '0.71.6'); // expo requires react-native 0.71.6
     runCLI(`generate @nx/expo:application ${appName} --no-interactive`);
     runCLI(
       `generate @nx/expo:library ${libName} --buildable --publishable --importPath=${proj}/${libName}`
diff --git a/e2e/utils/create-project-utils.ts b/e2e/utils/create-project-utils.ts
index 04d1d5926c27a..2bbafa3b0dd75 100644
--- a/e2e/utils/create-project-utils.ts
+++ b/e2e/utils/create-project-utils.ts
@@ -284,20 +284,15 @@ export function packageInstall(
 
   const command = `${
     mode === 'dev' ? pm.addDev : pm.addProd
-  } ${pkgsWithVersions}${isVerbose() ? ' --verbose' : ''}`;
+  } ${pkgsWithVersions}`;
 
   try {
-    const install = execSync(
-      `${mode === 'dev' ? pm.addDev : pm.addProd} ${pkgsWithVersions}${
-        isVerbose() ? ' --verbose' : ''
-      }`,
-      {
-        cwd,
-        stdio: 'pipe',
-        env: process.env,
-        encoding: 'utf-8',
-      }
-    );
+    const install = execSync(command, {
+      cwd,
+      stdio: isVerbose() ? 'inherit' : 'ignore',
+      env: process.env,
+      encoding: 'utf-8',
+    });
 
     if (isVerbose()) {
       output.log({