Revolut is bringing facial recognition payments to the UK high street, letting customers pay in-store with their face instead of a card, phone, or cash.
Revolut is piloting its “Pay with Smile” technology from September 24 to 26, 2026. Customers can opt into the service through the Revolut app, with payments authenticated by matching their face against identity checks completed when they opened their account.
The company says the technology is designed to make checkout faster while giving merchants access to a new payment option without additional processing fees during the pilot period in London.
Revolut says it encrypts facial data end-to-end and does not store it. The pilot also gives merchants 0% processing fees on Pay with Smile transactions.
This matters especially for Black- and Brown-owned businesses, particularly smaller retailers facing payment processing and infrastructure costs. Revolut says UK independent venues spend an average of £875 a month on payment processing and hardware.
