diff --git a/msgq/ipc.cc b/msgq/ipc.cc
index e269d43..b5cc20e 100644
--- a/msgq/ipc.cc
+++ b/msgq/ipc.cc
@@ -7,21 +7,8 @@
 #include "msgq/impl_msgq.h"
 #include "msgq/impl_fake.h"
 
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-const bool MUST_USE_ZMQ = true;
-#else
-const bool MUST_USE_ZMQ = false;
-#endif
-
 bool messaging_use_zmq(){
-  if (std::getenv("ZMQ") || MUST_USE_ZMQ) {
-    if (std::getenv("OPENPILOT_PREFIX")) {
-      std::cerr << "OPENPILOT_PREFIX not supported with ZMQ backend\n";
-      assert(false);
-    }
-    return true;
-  }
-  return false;
+  return std::getenv("ZMQ") != nullptr;
 }
 
 bool messaging_use_fake(){
diff --git a/msgq/msgq.cc b/msgq/msgq.cc
index 1928155..92f0ec1 100644
--- a/msgq/msgq.cc
+++ b/msgq/msgq.cc
@@ -87,12 +87,16 @@ int msgq_new_queue(msgq_queue_t * q, const char * path, size_t size){
   assert(size < 0xFFFFFFFF); // Buffer must be smaller than 2^32 bytes
   std::signal(SIGUSR2, sigusr2_handler);
 
-  std::string full_path = "/dev/shm/msgq_";
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+  std::string base_path = "/tmp/msgq_";
+#else
+  std::string base_path = "/dev/shm/msgq_";
+#endif
   const char* prefix = std::getenv("OPENPILOT_PREFIX");
   if (prefix) {
-    full_path += std::string(prefix) + "/";
+    base_path += std::string(prefix) + "/";
   }
-  full_path += path;
+  std::string full_path = base_path + path;
 
   auto fd = open(full_path.c_str(), O_RDWR | O_CREAT, 0664);
   if (fd < 0) {
@@ -168,8 +172,11 @@ void msgq_init_publisher(msgq_queue_t * q) {
 }
 
 static void thread_signal(uint32_t tid) {
-  #ifndef SYS_tkill
-    // TODO: this won't work for multithreaded programs
+  #ifdef __APPLE__
+    // macOS doesn't have tkill, rely on polling instead
+    (void)tid;
+  #elif !defined(SYS_tkill)
+    // fallback for systems without tkill
     kill(tid, SIGUSR2);
   #else
     syscall(SYS_tkill, tid, SIGUSR2);
diff --git a/msgq/msgq_tests.cc b/msgq/msgq_tests.cc
index fa8a883..fc713af 100644
--- a/msgq/msgq_tests.cc
+++ b/msgq/msgq_tests.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 #include "catch2/catch.hpp"
 #include "msgq/msgq.h"
 
+static void cleanup_test_queue() {
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+  remove("/tmp/msgq_test_queue");
+#else
+  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+#endif
+}
+
 TEST_CASE("ALIGN")
 {
   REQUIRE(ALIGN(0) == 0);
@@ -43,7 +51,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_init_data")
 
 TEST_CASE("msgq_init_subscriber")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t q;
   msgq_new_queue(&q, "test_queue", 1024);
   REQUIRE(*q.num_readers == 0);
@@ -63,7 +71,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_init_subscriber")
 
 TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_send first message")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t q;
   msgq_new_queue(&q, "test_queue", 1024);
   msgq_init_publisher(&q);
@@ -100,7 +108,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_send first message")
 
 TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_send test wraparound")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t q;
   msgq_new_queue(&q, "test_queue", 1024);
   msgq_init_publisher(&q);
@@ -132,7 +140,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_send test wraparound")
 
 TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_recv test wraparound")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t q_pub, q_sub;
   msgq_new_queue(&q_pub, "test_queue", 1024);
   msgq_new_queue(&q_sub, "test_queue", 1024);
@@ -178,7 +186,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_recv test wraparound")
 
 TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_send test invalidation")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t q_pub, q_sub;
   msgq_new_queue(&q_pub, "test_queue", 1024);
   msgq_new_queue(&q_sub, "test_queue", 1024);
@@ -214,7 +222,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_msg_send test invalidation")
 
 TEST_CASE("msgq_init_subscriber init 2 subscribers")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t q1, q2;
   msgq_new_queue(&q1, "test_queue", 1024);
   msgq_new_queue(&q2, "test_queue", 1024);
@@ -237,7 +245,7 @@ TEST_CASE("msgq_init_subscriber init 2 subscribers")
 
 TEST_CASE("Write 1 msg, read 1 msg", "[integration]")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   const size_t msg_size = 128;
   msgq_queue_t writer, reader;
 
@@ -273,7 +281,7 @@ TEST_CASE("Write 1 msg, read 1 msg", "[integration]")
 
 TEST_CASE("Write 2 msg, read 2 msg - conflate = false", "[integration]")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   const size_t msg_size = 128;
   msgq_queue_t writer, reader;
 
@@ -310,7 +318,7 @@ TEST_CASE("Write 2 msg, read 2 msg - conflate = false", "[integration]")
 
 TEST_CASE("Write 2 msg, read 2 msg - conflate = true", "[integration]")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   const size_t msg_size = 128;
   msgq_queue_t writer, reader;
 
@@ -348,7 +356,7 @@ TEST_CASE("Write 2 msg, read 2 msg - conflate = true", "[integration]")
 
 TEST_CASE("1 publisher, 1 slow subscriber", "[integration]")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t writer, reader;
 
   msgq_new_queue(&writer, "test_queue", 1024);
@@ -391,7 +399,7 @@ TEST_CASE("1 publisher, 1 slow subscriber", "[integration]")
 
 TEST_CASE("1 publisher, 2 subscribers", "[integration]")
 {
-  remove("/dev/shm/msgq_test_queue");
+  cleanup_test_queue();
   msgq_queue_t writer, reader1, reader2;
 
   msgq_new_queue(&writer, "test_queue", 1024);
diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
index e0cfe7c..6be3fa8 100755
--- a/test.sh
+++ b/test.sh
@@ -16,4 +16,5 @@ scons -j8
 pre-commit run --all-files
 
 # *** test ***
+msgq/test_runner
 pytest