diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
index b066fd08..0123bdae 100644
--- a/.bazelrc
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -13,8 +13,10 @@ build:manylinux2014 --crosstool_top=//third_party/toolchains/preconfig/ubuntu16.
 
 build -c opt
 build --cxxopt="-std=c++17"
+build --host_cxxopt="-std=c++17"
 # We can remove this flag (we keep it explicit for now)
 build --cxxopt="-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1"
+build --host_cxxopt="-D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1"
 build --auto_output_filter=subpackages
 build --copt="-Wall" --copt="-Wno-sign-compare"
 build --linkopt="-lrt -lm"
diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 56e82dfe..1d86c9b8 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ load(
     "//reverb/cc/platform/default:repo.bzl",
     "absl_deps",
     "cc_tf_configure",
+    "github_apple_deps",
     "github_grpc_deps",
     "googletest_deps",
     "protoc_deps",
@@ -28,6 +29,8 @@ absl_deps()
 # Note that the Python dependencies are not tracked by bazel here, but
 # in setup.py.
 
+github_apple_deps()
+
 ## Begin GRPC related deps
 github_grpc_deps()
 
diff --git a/docker/release.dockerfile b/docker/release.dockerfile
index 45389b51..798d48ff 100644
--- a/docker/release.dockerfile
+++ b/docker/release.dockerfile
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ RUN ${APT_COMMAND} update && ${APT_COMMAND} install -y --no-install-recommends \
 RUN curl -O https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
 
 # Installs known working version of bazel.
-ARG bazel_version=3.7.2
+ARG bazel_version=5.3.0
 ENV BAZEL_VERSION ${bazel_version}
 RUN mkdir /bazel && \
     cd /bazel && \
@@ -96,12 +96,14 @@ RUN ln -s "/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3.11" "/dt9/usr/include/x86_64-li
 # bazel build -c opt --copt=-mavx --config=manylinux2014 --test_output=errors //...
 
 # Update binutils to avoid linker(gold) issue. See b/227299577#comment9
-RUN wget http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/binutils/binutils_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
+RUN \
+ wget http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/binutils/binutils_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
  && wget http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/binutils/binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
  && wget http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/binutils/binutils-common_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
  && wget http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/binutils/libbinutils_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb
 
-RUN dpkg -i binutils_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
+RUN \
+  dpkg -i binutils_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
             binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
             binutils-common_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb \
             libbinutils_2.35.1-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb
diff --git a/reverb/cc/platform/default/repo.bzl b/reverb/cc/platform/default/repo.bzl
index bc6ba310..e5a53d94 100644
--- a/reverb/cc/platform/default/repo.bzl
+++ b/reverb/cc/platform/default/repo.bzl
@@ -317,6 +317,18 @@ def python_deps():
         ],
     )
 
+def github_apple_deps():
+    http_archive(
+        name = "build_bazel_rules_apple",
+        sha256 = "36072d4f3614d309d6a703da0dfe48684ec4c65a89611aeb9590b45af7a3e592",
+        urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_apple/releases/download/1.0.1/rules_apple.1.0.1.tar.gz"],
+    )
+    http_archive(
+        name = "build_bazel_apple_support",
+        sha256 = "ce1042cf936540eaa7b49c4549d7cd9b6b1492acbb6e765840a67a34b8e17a97",
+        urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/apple_support/releases/download/1.1.0/apple_support.1.1.0.tar.gz"],
+    )
+
 def github_grpc_deps():
     http_archive(
         name = "com_github_grpc_grpc",
@@ -347,11 +359,11 @@ def googletest_deps():
 def absl_deps():
     http_archive(
         name = "com_google_absl",
-        sha256 = "94aef187f688665dc299d09286bfa0d22c4ecb86a80b156dff6aabadc5a5c26d",  # SHARED_ABSL_SHA
-        strip_prefix = "abseil-cpp-273292d1cfc0a94a65082ee350509af1d113344d",
+        sha256 = "8eeec9382fc0338ef5c60053f3a4b0e0708361375fe51c9e65d0ce46ccfe55a7",  # SHARED_ABSL_SHA
+        strip_prefix = "abseil-cpp-b971ac5250ea8de900eae9f95e06548d14cd95fe",
         urls = [
-            "https://storage.googleapis.com/mirror.tensorflow.org/github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp/archive/273292d1cfc0a94a65082ee350509af1d113344d.tar.gz",
-            "https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp/archive/273292d1cfc0a94a65082ee350509af1d113344d.tar.gz",
+            "https://storage.googleapis.com/mirror.tensorflow.org/github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp/archive/b971ac5250ea8de900eae9f95e06548d14cd95fe.tar.gz",
+            "https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp/archive/b971ac5250ea8de900eae9f95e06548d14cd95fe.tar.gz",
         ],
     )