diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ap/apko/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ap/apko/package.nix
index e75c0f61b665..d3a01f51b2df 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ap/apko/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ap/apko/package.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 {
   lib,
+  stdenv,
   buildGoModule,
   fetchFromGitHub,
+  writableTmpDirAsHomeHook,
   installShellFiles,
 }:
 
@@ -42,14 +44,17 @@ buildGoModule (finalAttrs: {
     ldflags+=" -X sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/version.buildDate=$(cat SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH)"
   '';
 
-  preCheck = ''
-    # some tests require a writable HOME
-    export HOME=$(mktemp -d)
+  nativeCheckInputs = [ writableTmpDirAsHomeHook ];
 
+  # skip tests on darwin due to some local networking failures
+  # `__darwinAllowLocalNetworking = true;` wasn't sufficient for
+  # aarch64 or x86_64
+  doCheck = !stdenv.isDarwin;
+  preCheck = ''
     # some test data include SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH (which is different from our default)
     # and the default version info which we get by unsetting our ldflags
     export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=0
-    ldflags=
+    unset ldflags
   '';
 
   checkFlags = [