Facial recognition is moving from smartphone screens to the checkout counter, with UK fintech Revolut now trialing biometric payments at Kiss the Hippo coffee shops in London.
The pilot uses Revolut’s Pay with Smile system, which the company describes as the UK’s first in-store facial recognition payment system. The technology runs through Revolut Register, its point-of-sale platform, with no additional fees for participating merchants.
Like many other biometric payment initiatives, the goal is to streamline the checkout experience in busy locations. But Revolut’s trial is still in early stages, and its broader implications for biometric payments remain to be seen.
“The Revolut announcement of a pilot at a single coffee chain’s locations brings it to parity with several offerings in the U.S. market and reinforces the slow pace of adoption of biometric authentication at the point of sale,” said Christopher Miller, Lead Emerging Payments Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research. “2026 has seen work on vendors refining their pitches and identifying the right use cases for implementations.”
Bright Spots for Biometrics
The incremental adoption of biometrics payments has been somewhat surprising given that the underlying technology is well established. Consumers already routinely use facial recognition and fingerprint authentication to unlock phones, access apps, and verify their identities.
There have nevertheless been examples of biometric payments gaining traction. Software firm Toss, for example, has helped drive adoption in South Korea, where biometric payment technology has seen broader consumer use.
“Toss began piloting FacePay in convenience stores like 7-Eleven, with merchants reporting that it was great for business because when consumers came to the counter with their hands full, they didn’t have to put products down to retrieve their wallet or phone to make the payment,” said Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research.
“Today, Toss reports that eight million users have enrolled in FacePay and it’s available for use at over 370,000 merchants,” he said.
The Barriers That Remain
Other biometric payment initiatives have found a foothold in high-traffic areas, including sports arenas and stadiums, where faster checkout can offer a clear benefit.
But expanding biometric payments beyond these use cases presents several challenges. Merchants may need to invest in or upgrade in-store infrastructure to support the technology. Also, consumers need to see a meaningful advantage over existing payment methods.
That could be especially prevalent in the UK, where contactless payments are already deeply embedded in everyday transactions.
Finally, there’s also the question of consumer awareness and consent. Most biometric systems require customers to voluntarily share biometric data, making trust and privacy important factors in adoption.
“Data privacy is always a concern, as we are seeing in the U.S. with the Flock license plate readers, and that pushback may well extend into using these advanced technologies to make payments easier,” Apgar said. “Cultural differences in how the tech is perceived may very well see facial recognition for payments become popular in some parts of the world while being shunned by consumers in others.”
