diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ba8ff49a19..1ade6dfa34 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -76,7 +76,9 @@ before_install:
 before_script:
   - ./autogen.sh
 script:
-  - make -j3 && make -j3 syntax-check && make -j3 check
+  # Many unit tests still fail on macOS, and there are a bunch of issues with
+  # syntax-check as well, so skip those steps on that platform for now
+  - make -j3 && if [ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" != "osx" ]; then make -j3 syntax-check && make -j3 check; fi
 
 # Environments here are run in addition to the main environment defined above
 matrix:
@@ -89,10 +91,6 @@ matrix:
       dist: trusty
     - compiler: clang
       os: osx
-      script:
-        # many unit tests fail & so does syntax-check, so skip for now
-        # one day we must fix it though....
-        - make -j3
 
 after_failure:
   - echo '============================================================================'