• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 9, 2017

Appealing to app developers and content creators, Apple will now let people “tip” them in virtual currency.

“Apps may use in-app purchase currencies to enable customers to ‘tip’ digital content providers,” the tech giant states in its newly-revised App Store Review Guidelines.

Previously, Apple did not have an official policy on tipping, but it repo rtedly discouraged the practice on several occasions.

With the change -- first noticed by TechCrunch -- the App Store will likely produce more profits for Apple, as it plans to take a 30% cut of all tips.

Since launching its App Store in 2008, Apple recently sa id it has paid out more than $70 billion to developers. Considering its 70/30 revenue split with developers, that means Apple has made around $30 billion from its app business to date.

Notably, the App Store saw downloads increase by more than 70% over the past year, according to Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing.

“Our customers are downloading [apps] in record numbers,” Schiller stated earlier this month.

Much of the credit should go to developers themselves, according to Schiller. From Pokémon GO to Super Mario Run, “we are amazed at all of the great new apps our developers create,” he said.

As for Apple’s role in the app business, Schiller said the release of iOS 10 last fall helped create new opportunities -- from giving a friend a Starbucks gift card using Apple Pay to collaborating on a fashion design sketch using Prêt à Template.