diff --git a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
index c07342b..80c443b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ jobs:
             build: ""
             artifact_suffix: "windows_x86"
             use_qemu: false
-          - os: macos-13
+          - os: macos-14
             arch: "universal2"
             build: ""
             artifact_suffix: "macos"
diff --git a/helics_apps-pip/CMakeLists.txt b/helics_apps-pip/CMakeLists.txt
index f550201..dca4d23 100644
--- a/helics_apps-pip/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/helics_apps-pip/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,12 +1,16 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15...3.26)
 project(HELICS LANGUAGES CXX) # Must be "HELICS" due to its CMake files requiring CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME == PROJECT_NAME in order to build app executables
+include(FetchContent)
+
+# NOTE: SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION strips some of the extra Python version components out, like postN and devM
+# The setuptools_scm "no-guess-dev" version_scheme works well, since that leaves it with just the HELICS version
 
-# Note: This will likely not produce valid wheels for musl systems...
-if(LINUX AND CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "x86_64")
+# Note: Linux requires a hint for whether this wheel should be for manylinux (glibc) or musllinux
+# -- The CIBW_ARTIFACT_TYPE environment variable is only expected to be set during official release builds using cibuildwheel on GHA CI systems
+if(LINUX AND CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "x86_64" AND ENV{CIBW_ARTIFACT_TYPE} STREQUAL "manylinux_x86_64")
     set(HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/HELICS/releases/download/v${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}/Helics-${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz)
 elseif(APPLE AND CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
-    message(STATUS "${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}")
-    set(HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/HELICS/releases/download/${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}/Helics-${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}-macOS-universal2.zip)
+    set(HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/HELICS/releases/download/v${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}/Helics-${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}-macOS-universal2.zip)
 elseif(WIN32)
     if(CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P EQUAL 8)
         set(HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/HELICS/releases/download/v${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}/Helics-${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION}-win64.zip)
@@ -15,33 +19,44 @@ elseif(WIN32)
     endif()
 endif()
 
-message(STATUS "CIBW_ARTIFACT_TYPE: $ENV{CIBW_ARTIFACT_TYPE}")
-message(STATUS "CIBUILDWHEEL: $ENV{CIBUILDWHEEL}")
-message(STATUS "DOWNLOAD URL: ${HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL}")
+# If we are building a binary wheel for an official release (or installing) and CIBUILDWHEEL is set, speed things up with pre-built HELICS binaries
+if(DEFINED ENV{CIBUILDWHEEL} AND HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL AND SKBUILD_STATE STREQUAL "wheel")
+    message(STATUS "Downloading pre-built HELICS release")
+    FetchContent_Declare(
+        helics-bin
+        URL ${HELICS_DOWNLOAD_URL}
+    )
+    FetchContent_MakeAvailable(helics-bin)
+    if(EXISTS ${helics-bin_SOURCE_DIR}/bin)
+        install(DIRECTORY ${helics-bin_SOURCE_DIR}/bin DESTINATION . USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
+    endif()
+    if(EXISTS ${helics-bin_SOURCE_DIR}/lib)
+        install(DIRECTORY ${helics-bin_SOURCE_DIR}/lib DESTINATION . USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
+    endif()
+    if(EXISTS ${helics-bin_SOURCE_DIR}/lib64)
+        install(DIRECTORY ${helics-bin_SOURCE_DIR}/lib64 DESTINATION . USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
+    endif()
 
-return()
-message(STATUS ${SKBUILD_PROJECT_NAME})
-message(STATUS ${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION})
-message(STATUS ${SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION_FULL})
-message(STATUS ${SKBUILD_STATE})
-message(STATUS ${SKBUILD_PLATLIB_DIR})
-message(STATUS ${SKBUILD_DATA_DIR})
+    # If we made a wheel from pre-built HELICS binaries, exit early!
+    return()
+endif()
 
-include(FetchContent)
+# No pre-built HELICS binaries being used, warn about limitations of building wheels or installing from an sdist
+if(SKBUILD_STATE STREQUAL "wheel")
+    message(WARNING "Building HELICS from source (some features including ZeroMQ Core, IPC Core, and web server won't be available)")
+endif()
 
-# Only fetch source code files if it is building an sdist
+# Only fetch source code files if it is building an sdist; this should make builds from a source distribution work without internet connections
 if(NOT SKBUILD_STATE STREQUAL "sdist")
     set(FETCHCONTENT_FULLY_DISCONNECTED ON)
 endif()
 
-# NOTE: SKBUILD_PROJECT_VERSION strips some of the extra Python version components out, like postN and devM
-# The setuptools_scm "no-guess-dev" version_scheme works well, since that leaves it with just the HELICS version
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(HELICS_DISABLE_GIT_OPERATIONS ON)
 set(HELICS_ZMQ_SUBPROJECT ON)
 set(HELICS_ZMQ_FORCE_SUBPROJECT ON)
-set(HELICS_ENABLE_ZMQ_CORE OFF)
-set(HELICS_DISABLE_BOOST ON) # TODO: headers are just needed to compile, maybe tell users to have it when building from source
+set(HELICS_ENABLE_ZMQ_CORE OFF) # TODO: vendor libzmq similar to other 3rd party libraries
+set(HELICS_DISABLE_BOOST ON) # TODO: headers are just needed to compile, maybe tell users to have it installed as prereq for building from source?
 set(HELICS_BUILD_APP_LIBRARY ON)
 set(HELICS_BUILD_APP_EXECUTABLES ON)
 FetchContent_Declare(
@@ -54,19 +69,8 @@ FetchContent_Declare(
 if(SKBUILD_STATE STREQUAL "sdist")
     if(NOT helics_POPULATED)
         FetchContent_Populate(HELICS)
-        message(STATUS "Populated HELICS")
     endif()
 elseif(SKBUILD_STATE STREQUAL "wheel")
     add_library(helicsCpp98_ide INTERFACE)
     FetchContent_MakeAvailable(helics)
-endif()
-message(STATUS ${helics_POPULATED})
-message(STATUS ${helics_SOURCE_DIR})
-message(STATUS ${helics_BINARY_DIR})
-
-
-# HELICS_SOURCE = os.path.join(setup_py_dir, "./_source")
-# HELICS_VERSION = versioneer.get_version()
-# HELICS_VERSION = re.findall(r"(?:(\d+\.(?:\d+\.)*\d+))", HELICS_VERSION)[0]
-# HELICS_INSTALL = os.path.join(setup_py_dir, "./helics_apps/data")
-# DOWNLOAD_URL = "https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/HELICS/releases/download/v{version}/Helics-v{version}-source.tar.gz".format(version=HELICS_VERSION)
\ No newline at end of file
+endif()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/helics_apps-pip/README.md b/helics_apps-pip/README.md
index b3ed61c..c1e1ae4 100644
--- a/helics_apps-pip/README.md
+++ b/helics_apps-pip/README.md
@@ -17,13 +17,21 @@ After upgrading pip, running `python -m pip install helics-apps` should fetch a
 This package provides pre-compiled binary wheels for the following operating systems
 
 * Linux 64-bit (manylinux2010 compatible -- glibc 2.12+, most popular distributions released since May 2010)
-* macOS (10.9+) 64-bit
+* macOS Universal2 -- compatible with 10.9+ for Intel macs and 11+ for Apple Silicon macs
 * Windows 32/64-bit
 
 ### Source distributions
-An attempt has been made at providing a source distribution that will compiled HELICS from source. Although minimal
+An attempt has been made at providing a source distribution that will compile HELICS from source. Although minimal
 support can be provided (e.g. you will need to troubleshoot issues yourself), PRs fixing issues are welcome.
 
+Certain features may not be available when building from source, including the ZeroMQ core and any features that
+rely on Boost (such as the interprocess core or web server).
+
+If for some reason using a binary wheel is not an option but a source wheel is and you want to replicate the way the
+supported binary wheels are built, set the `CIBUILDWHEEL` environment variable to tell the binary wheel build to
+create a wheel from a pre-built HELICS release. Note that you *must* have an internet connection when installing
+for this to work, and that it will *only work on glibc x86_64 Linux, 32/64-bit Windows, and macOS systems.
+
 ## Release
 HELICS is distributed under the terms of the BSD-3 clause license. All new
 contributions must be made under this license. [LICENSE](LICENSE)
diff --git a/helics_apps-pip/pyproject.toml b/helics_apps-pip/pyproject.toml
index e627a97..de24692 100644
--- a/helics_apps-pip/pyproject.toml
+++ b/helics_apps-pip/pyproject.toml
@@ -60,6 +60,6 @@ sdist.include = ["helics_apps/_version.py"]
 sdist.cmake = true
 
 [tool.setuptools_scm]  # Section required
-version_scheme = "no-guess-dev"  # Works well with SKBUILD version having postN and devM tags dropped
+version_scheme = "no-guess-dev"  # Works well with SKBUILD version having postN and devM tags dropped, good for getting current HELICS version to download
 root = ".."
 version_file = "helics_apps/_version.py"
\ No newline at end of file