Revolut is piloting its Pay with Smile facial recognition system in select UK stores, starting at Kiss the Hippo coffee locations in London. The system, running on Revolut Register POS hardware, aims to reduce payment friction by using biometric authentication to verify customer identity. Users must be enrolled, with facial embeddings deleted immediately after transactions.

Revolut emphasizes data security, processing all information within its proprietary systems without sharing with merchants. The initiative addresses consumer and merchant pain points by replacing traditional tills with a streamlined checkout experience, though it may face public scrutiny over privacy concerns. While not the first of its kind—China's Alipay launched Smile to Pay in 2017—Pay with Smile is the UK's first in-store facial recognition payment system with zero merchant fees.

Revolut customers can trial the service at Bloomsbury, Chelsea, and Soho cafes until September 26th.