Apple is facing a fresh class-action lawsuit from app developers, following a federal court ruling that cracked open its App Store payment policies.

This isn’t just another fight over fees—there’s a twist that could shift how developers make money and how much control Apple really has behind the curtain.

A group of developers has filed suit in California, arguing that Apple’s compliance with the Epic v. Apple decision is mostly smoke and mirrors.

The company technically allows developers to link out to external payment options, but the lawsuit claims Apple has stacked the deck with restrictive rules and a 27 percent fee that makes alternatives nearly pointless.

At the heart of this: Apple’s so-called anti-steering policy, which used to block devs from even mentioning outside payment methods.

That got struck down in court. Apple responded by tweaking its rules just enough to comply—on paper. But now, developers are saying those changes don’t actually make things any better in practice.

The complaint calls this a “fictional victory” and accuses Apple of designing its compliance to discourage developers from using the very options the court made available.

One developer behind the suit, Knitrino, said Apple approved a version of its app with a link to outside payments—then came back a month later to threaten removal.

This case taps into a bigger conversation about platform power, how revenue gets split, and whether Apple’s walled garden still holds up in a post-Epic world.

If this moves forward, it could force a more meaningful shift in how Apple runs the App Store—or at least make the rules less easy to bend.

It’s not just about policy—it’s about power, profit, and the quiet ways platforms keep their grip.