diff --git a/packages/build-tools/src/utils/__tests__/project.test.ts b/packages/build-tools/src/utils/__tests__/project.test.ts
index c57ab1c6d6..18c6595b93 100644
--- a/packages/build-tools/src/utils/__tests__/project.test.ts
+++ b/packages/build-tools/src/utils/__tests__/project.test.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { instance, mock, when } from 'ts-mockito';
 
 import { BuildContext } from '../../context';
 import { PackageManager } from '../packageManager';
-import { readEasJsonContents, runExpoCliCommand } from '../project';
+import { isUsingModernYarnVersion, readEasJsonContents, runExpoCliCommand } from '../project';
 
 jest.mock('fs');
 jest.mock('@expo/turtle-spawn', () => ({
@@ -87,3 +87,27 @@ describe(readEasJsonContents, () => {
     expect(readEasJsonContents(projectDir)).toBe(contents);
   });
 });
+
+describe(isUsingModernYarnVersion, () => {
+  const mockSpawn = spawn as jest.Mock;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    mockSpawn.mockReset();
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for yarn 1.x', async () => {
+    mockSpawn.mockResolvedValue({ stdout: '1.22.22' });
+
+    const result = await isUsingModernYarnVersion('/project');
+
+    expect(result).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for yarn 4.x', async () => {
+    mockSpawn.mockResolvedValue({ stdout: '4.13.0' });
+
+    const result = await isUsingModernYarnVersion('/project');
+
+    expect(result).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/build-tools/src/utils/project.ts b/packages/build-tools/src/utils/project.ts
index 3580833e48..265f6dc245 100644
--- a/packages/build-tools/src/utils/project.ts
+++ b/packages/build-tools/src/utils/project.ts
@@ -2,15 +2,16 @@ import spawn, { SpawnOptions, SpawnPromise, SpawnResult } from '@expo/turtle-spa
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import path from 'path';
 
-import { PackageManager, findPackagerRootDir } from '../utils/packageManager';
+import { PackageManager } from '../utils/packageManager';
 
 /**
- * check if .yarnrc.yml exists in the project dir or in the workspace root dir
+ * Check if yarn version is 2 or later (modern yarn) by running `yarn --version`
  */
 export async function isUsingModernYarnVersion(projectDir: string): Promise<boolean> {
-  const yarnrcPath = path.join(projectDir, '.yarnrc.yml');
-  const yarnrcRootPath = path.join(findPackagerRootDir(projectDir), '.yarnrc.yml');
-  return (await fs.pathExists(yarnrcPath)) || (await fs.pathExists(yarnrcRootPath));
+  const result = await spawn('yarn', ['--version'], { cwd: projectDir, stdio: 'pipe' });
+  const version = result.stdout.trim();
+  const majorVersion = parseInt(version.split('.')[0], 10);
+  return majorVersion >= 2;
 }
 
 export function runExpoCliCommand({