diff --git a/common/prefix.h b/common/prefix.h
index 7d0265c25..30ee18f63 100644
--- a/common/prefix.h
+++ b/common/prefix.h
@@ -13,7 +13,11 @@ public:
     if (prefix.empty()) {
       prefix = util::random_string(15);
     }
-    msgq_path = Path::shm_path() + "/msgq_" + prefix;
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    msgq_path = "/tmp/msgq_" + prefix;
+#else
+    msgq_path = "/dev/shm/msgq_" + prefix;
+#endif
     bool ret = util::create_directories(msgq_path, 0777);
     assert(ret);
     setenv("OPENPILOT_PREFIX", prefix.c_str(), 1);
diff --git a/common/prefix.py b/common/prefix.py
index b19ce1472..86f69671d 100644
--- a/common/prefix.py
+++ b/common/prefix.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+import platform
 import shutil
 import uuid
 
@@ -11,7 +12,8 @@ from openpilot.system.hardware.hw import DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_CACHE_ROOT
 class OpenpilotPrefix:
   def __init__(self, prefix: str = None, create_dirs_on_enter: bool = True, clean_dirs_on_exit: bool = True, shared_download_cache: bool = False):
     self.prefix = prefix if prefix else str(uuid.uuid4().hex[0:15])
-    self.msgq_path = os.path.join(Paths.shm_path(), "msgq_" + self.prefix)
+    shm_path = "/tmp" if platform.system() == "Darwin" else "/dev/shm"
+    self.msgq_path = os.path.join(shm_path, "msgq_" + self.prefix)
     self.create_dirs_on_enter = create_dirs_on_enter
     self.clean_dirs_on_exit = clean_dirs_on_exit
     self.shared_download_cache = shared_download_cache
diff --git a/msgq_repo b/msgq_repo
index f3f440102..349bf449b 160000
--- a/msgq_repo
+++ b/msgq_repo
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit f3f440102ef0a22e0ab1c7400b8c8a98eb6275c5
+Subproject commit 349bf449b7329527162598de357bfecf232abc3f
diff --git a/tools/install_python_dependencies.sh b/tools/install_python_dependencies.sh
index c2db249cf..4454845fc 100755
--- a/tools/install_python_dependencies.sh
+++ b/tools/install_python_dependencies.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,5 @@ source .venv/bin/activate
 
 if [[ "$(uname)" == 'Darwin' ]]; then
   touch "$ROOT"/.env
-  echo "# msgq doesn't work on mac" >> "$ROOT"/.env
-  echo "export ZMQ=1" >> "$ROOT"/.env
   echo "export OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY=YES" >> "$ROOT"/.env
 fi