Revolut Launches Facial Recognition Payments at London Cafes

Revolut launched a pilot program on September 24 called Pay with Smile, introducing the first in-store facial recognition checkout in the United Kingdom. The trial runs through September 26 at three Kiss the Hippo cafes located in the Bloomsbury, Chelsea, and Soho districts of London. The system allows customers to authorize account-to-account payments via a simple glance, matching their face against the identity check performed during account sign-up.

To use the service, customers must actively opt in through the Revolut app. The company states that facial recognition data is encrypted end-to-end and is not stored by merchants. The technology is powered by the Revolut Register, a new point-of-sale system for hospitality businesses that includes a built-in eSIM backup to prevent outages caused by poor internet connectivity.

To support independent venues, Revolut is offering 0% processing fees on these transactions and a 50% discount on the Revolut Register hardware until the end of 2026. Kiss the Hippo Coffee plans to expand the system to all 12 of its cafes later this year, while Revolut intends to roll out sales of the Register terminal in due course.