diff --git a/js/react_native/e2e/ios/Podfile b/js/react_native/e2e/ios/Podfile
index 0272c23092..f2d052818e 100644
--- a/js/react_native/e2e/ios/Podfile
+++ b/js/react_native/e2e/ios/Podfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
 require_relative '../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'
 
-platform :ios, '13.0'
+platform :ios, '15.1'
 
 pre_install do |installer|
   # Custom pre-install script or commands
@@ -15,7 +15,14 @@ end
 target 'OnnxruntimeModuleExample' do
   config = use_native_modules!
 
-  use_react_native!(:path => config["reactNativePath"])
+]# Check both symbol and string keys with default value
+  use_react_native!(
+    :path => config[:reactNativePath],
+    # Hermes is now enabled by default. Disable by setting this flag to false.
+    # Upcoming versions of React Native may rely on get_default_flags(), but
+    # we make it explicit here to aid in the React Native upgrade process.
+    :hermes_enabled => false
+  )
 
   use_frameworks!
 
@@ -32,7 +39,10 @@ post_install do |installer|
     installer.generated_projects.each do |project|
         project.targets.each do |target|
             target.build_configurations.each do |config|
-                config.build_settings['IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET'] = '13.0'
+                config.build_settings['IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET'] = '15.1'
+
+                # TODO: remove this once we migrate the Pipelines to use arm64 MacOS
+                config.build_settings['EXCLUDED_ARCHS[sdk=iphonesimulator*]'] = "arm64"
             end
         end
     end
diff --git a/js/react_native/ios/Podfile b/js/react_native/ios/Podfile
index ad8a5ce3b2..7208a3a514 100644
--- a/js/react_native/ios/Podfile
+++ b/js/react_native/ios/Podfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
 require_relative '../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'
 
-platform :ios, '13.0'
+platform :ios, '15.1'
 
 pre_install do |installer|
   # Custom pre-install script or commands
@@ -15,8 +15,14 @@ end
 def shared
   config = use_native_modules!
 
-  use_react_native!(:path => config["reactNativePath"])
-
+  # Check both symbol and string keys with default value
+  use_react_native!(
+    :path => config[:reactNativePath],
+    # Hermes is now enabled by default. Disable by setting this flag to false.
+    # Upcoming versions of React Native may rely on get_default_flags(), but
+    # we make it explicit here to aid in the React Native upgrade process.
+    :hermes_enabled => false
+  )
   # Comment the next line if you don't want to use dynamic frameworks
   use_frameworks!
 
@@ -43,8 +49,10 @@ post_install do |installer|
     installer.generated_projects.each do |project|
         project.targets.each do |target|
             target.build_configurations.each do |config|
-                config.build_settings['IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET'] = '13.0'
+                config.build_settings['IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET'] = '15.1'
+                # TODO: remove this once we migrate the Pipelines to use arm64 MacOS
+                config.build_settings['EXCLUDED_ARCHS[sdk=iphonesimulator*]'] = "arm64"
             end
         end
     end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/coreml/model/model.mm b/onnxruntime/core/providers/coreml/model/model.mm
index 5211b89ec1..fff1c231f9 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/coreml/model/model.mm
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/coreml/model/model.mm
@@ -369,20 +369,22 @@ void ProfileComputePlan(NSURL* compileUrl, MLModelConfiguration* config) {
 #define HAS_COREMLOPTIMIZATIONHINT 0
 #endif
 
-API_AVAILABLE_COREML8
+
 void ConfigureOptimizationHints(MLModelConfiguration* config, const CoreMLOptions& coreml_options) {
+  if (HAS_COREML8_OR_LATER) {
 #if HAS_COREMLOPTIMIZATIONHINT
-  MLOptimizationHints* optimizationHints = [[MLOptimizationHints alloc] init];
-  if (coreml_options.UseStrategy("FastPrediction")) {
-    optimizationHints.specializationStrategy = MLSpecializationStrategyFastPrediction;
-    config.optimizationHints = optimizationHints;
-  } else if (coreml_options.UseStrategy("Default")) {
-    optimizationHints.specializationStrategy = MLSpecializationStrategyDefault;
-    config.optimizationHints = optimizationHints;
-  } else {
-    // not set
-  }
+    MLOptimizationHints* optimizationHints = [[MLOptimizationHints alloc] init];
+    if (coreml_options.UseStrategy("FastPrediction")) {
+      optimizationHints.specializationStrategy = MLSpecializationStrategyFastPrediction;
+      config.optimizationHints = optimizationHints;
+    } else if (coreml_options.UseStrategy("Default")) {
+      optimizationHints.specializationStrategy = MLSpecializationStrategyDefault;
+      config.optimizationHints = optimizationHints;
+    } else {
+      // not set
+    }
 #endif
+  }
 }
 
 Status CompileOrReadCachedModel(NSURL* modelUrl, const CoreMLOptions& coreml_options,