diff --git a/test/c/CMakeLists.txt b/test/c/CMakeLists.txt
index 98a21b277ca3ae22a8fafcc5e7640d7d62bfc4fc..90ab1e3d5700b8655779340d97f6cbd3650296c6 100644
--- a/test/c/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/c/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,13 +10,18 @@
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Fetch GoogleTest via FetchContent
+message(CHECK_START "Fetching external googletest")
+if("${CMAKE_VERSION}" VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "3.24")
+  cmake_policy(SET CMP0135 NEW)
+endif()
 include(FetchContent)
 FetchContent_Declare(
   googletest
-  URL https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/refs/tags/release-1.12.1.zip
+  URL https://github.com/google/googletest/releases/download/v1.16.0/googletest-1.16.0.tar.gz
 )
 # set(gtest_force_shared_crt ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
 FetchContent_MakeAvailable(googletest)
+message(CHECK_PASS "done")
 
 # Find Kokkos (or use your existing Kokkos installation)
 # find_package(Kokkos REQUIRED)