diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/hermes-engine/build.gradle.kts b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/hermes-engine/build.gradle.kts
index 7fa719f08e60d2..e57329789b0057 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/hermes-engine/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/hermes-engine/build.gradle.kts
@@ -252,8 +252,8 @@ android {
         cmake {
           arguments(
               "-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=MinSizeRel",
-              // For release builds, we don't want to enable the Hermes Debugger.
-              "-DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=False")
+              // For Expo Go, we have to enable debugging even on release builds.
+              "-DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=True")
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/hermes/reactexecutor/CMakeLists.txt b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/hermes/reactexecutor/CMakeLists.txt
index 0a7f253f63ce56..60a5a09449394c 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/hermes/reactexecutor/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/hermes/reactexecutor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ add_library(hermes_executor
 target_compile_options(
         hermes_executor
         PRIVATE
-        $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1>
+        -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
         -std=c++20
         -fexceptions
 )
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/hermes/jni/CMakeLists.txt b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/hermes/jni/CMakeLists.txt
index 1848f355fb6fa9..50f027dd8a45a3 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/hermes/jni/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/hermes/jni/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ add_library(hermesinstancejni
 target_compile_options(
         hermesinstancejni
         PRIVATE
-        $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1>
+        -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
         -std=c++20
         -fexceptions
 )
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/jni/CMakeLists.txt b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/jni/CMakeLists.txt
index f61819764c0248..a6ebd6fa1afce6 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/jni/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/runtime/jni/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ add_library(rninstance
 target_compile_options(
         rninstance
         PRIVATE
-        $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1>
+        -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
         -std=c++20
         -fexceptions
 )
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/executor/CMakeLists.txt b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/executor/CMakeLists.txt
index 6c72e5d1b90ac2..6ed337abb5f598 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/executor/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/executor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,5 +33,6 @@ else()
                 hermes_executor_common
                 PRIVATE
                 -DNDEBUG
+                -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
         )
 endif()
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/inspector-modern/CMakeLists.txt b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/inspector-modern/CMakeLists.txt
index bb820dabe1fad7..0d99a0a02b2ce2 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/inspector-modern/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/hermes/inspector-modern/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -25,6 +25,14 @@ if(${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} MATCHES Debug)
                 PRIVATE
                 -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
         )
+else()
+        # Expo Go requires debugging on release builds
+        target_compile_options(
+                hermes_inspector_modern
+                PRIVATE
+                # Expo Go requires debugging on release builds
+                -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
+        )
 endif()
 
 target_include_directories(hermes_inspector_modern PUBLIC ${REACT_COMMON_DIR})
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/CMakeLists.txt b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/CMakeLists.txt
index 3a440e009b0c7a..f6dcee55da38aa 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ add_library(bridgeless
 target_compile_options(
         bridgeless
         PRIVATE
-        $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1>
+        -DHERMES_ENABLE_DEBUGGER=1
         -std=c++20
         -fexceptions
 )
diff --git a/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec b/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
index 335004f1e87e3d..08e0c155d6af68 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
+++ b/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/hermes-engine.podspec
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ react_native_path = File.join(__dir__, "..", "..")
 package = JSON.parse(File.read(File.join(react_native_path, "package.json")))
 version = package['version']
 
+# Force building Hermes from source because Expo Go requires customized Hermes build
+ENV['BUILD_FROM_SOURCE'] = 'true'
+
 source_type = hermes_source_type(version, react_native_path)
 source = podspec_source(source_type, version, react_native_path)
 
diff --git a/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-apple-framework.sh b/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-apple-framework.sh
index a4fe7d79024cb4..ebb1a402dc6d6b 100755
--- a/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-apple-framework.sh
+++ b/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-apple-framework.sh
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ function configure_apple_framework {
   if [[ $BUILD_TYPE == "Debug" ]]; then
     enable_debugger="true"
   else
-    enable_debugger="false"
+    # Expo Go requires debugging on release build
+    enable_debugger="true"
   fi
   if [[ $BUILD_TYPE == "Debug" ]]; then
     # JS developers aren't VM developers.
diff --git a/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-hermes-xcode.sh b/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-hermes-xcode.sh
index 7d44c4cccb40b6..bcfc6e90278a50 100755
--- a/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-hermes-xcode.sh
+++ b/packages/react-native/sdks/hermes-engine/utils/build-hermes-xcode.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ function get_deployment_target {
     echo ${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}
 }
 
-enable_debugger="false"
+# Expo Go requires debugging on release build
+enable_debugger="true"
 if [[ "$CONFIGURATION" == "Debug" ]]; then
   enable_debugger="true"
 fi