diff --git a/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec b/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
index 672b7a048d0361..8d331e096ad2e0 100644
--- a/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
+++ b/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@ elsif version == '1000.0.0'
   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")
   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[:commit] = `git ls-remote https://github.com/facebook/hermes main | cut -f 1`.strip
+  source[:tag] = hermestag
 else
   source[:http] = "https://github.com/facebook/react-native/releases/download/v#{version}/hermes-runtime-darwin-v#{version}.tar.gz"
 end