Revolut launches 'pay with face' feature in UK first but customers are divided

Revolut has begun testing a new way to pay in shops that requires neither a bank card nor a mobile phone.

Instead, you’ll just use your face, but it’s bad news for grumpy people, or those with resting angry expressions.

The fintech firm's new Pay with Smile system is being trialled in London, in what Revolut describes as the UK's first in-store facial recognition payment service.

Customers can opt in through the Revolut app and, once enrolled, use a glance at a checkout terminal to authenticate a payment.

The three-day pilot is taking place at selected cafés in Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho.

Shoppers using the service can also earn three times the usual loyalty points on purchases, while a special menu includes £1 speciality coffees.

The technology works by checking a customer's face against the identity verification they completed when opening their Revolut account.

No more scrambling for your phone or debit card with this method (Getty Stock)

If the match is successful, an account-to-account payment is authorised.

Revolut says the system is designed to remove some of the familiar steps involved in paying for something.

With this method, no phone needs unlocking and there is no card to scramble about for.

But the idea of handing over biometric information in exchange for a quicker checkout has already divided customers.

One customer said: "For starters, I would never smile at the ever-increasing prices I have to pay for goods. Besides, a smile does not imply intent. This is dangerous road to go down which should be banned immediately."

Another questioned whether the technology solves a problem that actually exists, saying: "Why would I want to pay with my face when I already carry an NFC device everywhere and can complete a contactless payment in 1–2 seconds?”

They added: “What problem does facial recognition actually solve here, beyond adding another layer of biometric data?"

Others have taken a more positive view of the move, particularly its potential impact on businesses.

"Good idea to route payments through their own system and avoid fees from other providers and Apple Pay," one customer commented.

Another response was considerably less enthusiastic: "Actually get rid of this oh my days".

Privacy is likely to remain one of the biggest questions surrounding the service.

Grumpy faces aren't allowed for this method (Getty Stock)

Revolut says facial recognition data is encrypted end-to-end and that personal data is not stored by participating merchants.

Customers must actively switch the feature on rather than being enrolled automatically, and consent can be withdrawn.

The company is also pitching the system as a way to cut costs for retailers.

Revolut is offering zero processing fees on Pay with Smile transactions, while its new Revolut Register point-of-sale system is being used to power the trial.

The firm claims many independent venues currently spend an average of £875 a month on payment processing and hardware, rising to more than £950 for pubs and bars.

Alex Codina, Revolut's general manager of merchant payments, said the company wanted to tackle what it sees as outdated payment infrastructure.

"By combining high-performance processing with facial recognition technology, we're replacing outdated, fragmented tills with a hyper-efficient checkout experience designed to solve consumer and merchant pain points," he said.

For now, however, Pay with Smile remains a tightly limited experiment rather than a replacement for contactless cards and phones.

Whether shoppers decide that a faster checkout is worth putting their face at the centre of the transaction remains to be seen.