Revolut’s Pay with Smile lets London café patrons pay by simply looking at a screen, with no fees for merchants.
London’s coffee scene is about to get a high-tech makeover. Revolut, the digital-banking powerhouse, is rolling out a pilot of its Pay with Smile service, a checkout system that replaces the traditional card swipe with a brief facial recognition scan.
The trial will launch this Thursday, giving early adopters a glimpse of a future where a glance replaces a tap or a cash handover. By leveraging the Revolut Register terminal, the company aims to streamline the payment flow for both shoppers and merchants, tackling long-standing friction at point-of-sale.
Unlike many experimental payment concepts that sit behind closed doors, this rollout is publicly visible in three of the capital’s bustling neighbourhoods: Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho. Customers who wish to join the experience must opt in through their Revolut app, ensuring that participation is fully voluntary and that individuals retain control over their biometric data.
The company emphasizes that no facial information is stored by the participating cafés, and that all data transmitted between the device and Revolut’s servers is encrypted end-to-end.
How the facial-recognition checkout works
When a patron reaches the counter, the cashier selects the Pay with Smile option on the Revolut Register screen. A quick tap activates the camera, prompting the user to align their face with an on-screen guide, much like unlocking a smartphone with biometric authentication. The system then cross-checks the live image against the identity verification data the customer supplied when they opened their Revolut account. If the match is successful, an account-to-account transfer is triggered, clearing the bill almost instantly. Should the facial match fail, the terminal falls back to conventional payment methods, ensuring the transaction can still be completed without delay.
Pilot locations, timeline and customer onboarding
The initial trial period runs from September 24 to 26, concentrating on three Kiss the Hippo cafés situated in Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho. Alex Damgaci, managing director of Kiss the Hippo Coffee, explained that the brand will host guests throughout this week, offering them a chance to experience the technology before it expands to the chain’s full network of twelve cafés later in the year. “We’re looking forward to welcoming guests to try Pay with Smile at our Bloomsbury, Soho and Chelsea cafes before we roll out across all 12 of our cafes later this year,” Damgaci said.
To participate, users simply enable the feature in the Revolut app settings; the platform makes clear that enrollment is not automatic and that consent can be withdrawn at any moment. This opt-in requirement aligns with European data-privacy regulations and reassures consumers that their biometric profile remains under their direct control.
Merchant benefits and statements from Revolut
From a business perspective, the pilot promises tangible cost savings. Revolut has announced a promotional 0% processing fee for every transaction completed through Pay with Smile during the trial, a move designed to alleviate the financial pressure on independent venues. Alex Codina, general manager of merchant payments at Revolut Business, highlighted the strategic intent behind the launch: “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.” The promise of fee-free processing, combined with a faster checkout, could make the solution attractive to a broader segment of retailers beyond coffee shops.
While the technology is still in its experimental stage, the partnership between Revolut and Kiss the Hippo illustrates a growing willingness among UK merchants to experiment with biometric payments. If the three-day test proves smooth and popular, the rollout could extend to additional locations across the city, potentially redefining how everyday purchases are settled in the British capital.
