Revolut has recently introduced facial recognition payment service Pay with Smile. That tool lets customers pay for purchases in physical stores without a phone, bank card or wallet. The service is integrated into Revolut Register, the company’s point-of-sale (POS) system for businesses.
Announced on 24 September 2026, Pay with Smile service began as a limited pilot in London, UK, at selected branches of the coffee chain Kiss the Hippo. Customers could use it at the chain’s Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho locations from 24 to 26 September 2026. For the test, coffee lovers could purchase a speciality coffee drink for £1 through a special menu and earn triple RevPoints on transactions.
How Does Revolut Pay with Smile Work?
Pay with Smile uses facial recognition to authenticate customers and authorise payments. The system compares a customer’s face with the identity verification data collected from them when they first signed up for Revolut.
To pay, customers select Pay with Smile on a Revolut Register terminal. Then all they have to do is to look into its camera. After the identity check is completed, the payment is processed directly from the customer’s Revolut account.
The service is designed to make in-store checkout possible without a physical card or smartphone. Revolut says that facial recognition data is encrypted end-to-end and that merchants do not store customers’ personal data.
How to Set Up Pay with Smile
To try out the new service, customers need to opt in through Revolut. There are two basic ways to enrol:
- Through the app: Find the Pay with Smile banner on the home screen or in the Revolut Pay section. Read the information, consent to biometric data processing, enable the feature and accept the terms and conditions.
- At checkout: Select Pay with Smile on the Revolut Register terminal, look into the camera, then tap your phone against the screen or scan the QR code to open the Revolut app and complete enrolment.
After enabling the service, customers can create a separate four-digit Pay with Smile passcode. Revolut recommends setting it up to make future payments quicker.
Note: At present, the service is only being tested in the UK.
Are There Any Fees?
Customers do not pay a processing fee for Pay with Smile transactions. Revolut has also announced a 0% processing fee for merchants on all transactions made through the service.
However, businesses need compatible Revolut Register hardware to offer this biometric payment innovation. Revolut now has a promotional price of £349.50 plus VAT for a merchant’s first terminal. It will be valid until 31 December 2026. Next year, the terminals go back to their standard price. Before the promotion, it was £699 plus VAT.
Facial Recognition Payments Are Not Entirely New
Although facial recognition at checkout remains relatively uncommon, the concept has already been applied to other financial services.
Japan’s Seven Bank: Facial Recognition at ATMs
Japan’s Seven Bank launched its FACE CASH facial recognition transaction service on 6 February 2025. The service allows customers to deposit and withdraw cash at compatible ATMs without using a physical cash card. Before going live, this biometric ATM solution spent about 6 years in development.
To use it, Japanese customers must first register their facial information at a participating ATM. During transactions, they use facial recognition alongside a dedicated passcode and their card PIN. ATM scanners also have ‘liveness’ testing to make sure criminals would not use scanned picture or 3D mask. The service is available through compatible Seven Bank ATMs, including locations in convenience stores and other public places.
What Can Go Wrong With Facial Scan Payments
Despite potential convenience, one cannot say that facial recognition payments are safer than paying with a card or phone.
For one, someone can use a photograph, video or realistic mask to fool the camera. Perhaps, in the brick-and-mortar retail settings, that could be controlled by store personnel. However, that also depends on the crowdedness of the place and busy hours.
People can also look alike, so the system can, in theory, mistakenly match one person to another customer’s account.
Another issue that may arise is that a person’s face is a relatively permanent identifier. It can change over time, but not only with natural ageing that you might predict. People often change their appearance today, especially with plastic surgery enhancements popular today. In this case, a person would need to constantly update their facial biometric information.
