Revolut trials Pay with Smile and 0% processing fees – the UK’s first in-store facial recognition checkout

Revolut, the UK licensed bank, has today announced the initial pilot of the UK’s first in-store facial recognition checkout system, Revolut Pay with Smile, allowing customers to pay for their everyday essentials with a simple glance, with 0% processing fees for merchants on all transactions.

Revolut Pay with Smile makes checkout seamless via Revolut Register, the new hospitality Point-of-Sale (POS) hardware system, being exclusively piloted at select Kiss the Hippo cafés from today. Once customers are enrolled, it uses advanced facial technology to verify the identity of the user against the selfie ID checks that the customer completed when first signing up to Revolut to authenticate and process a payment securely.

Research from Revolut shows that payment processing and hardware fees create heavy overheads, with independent venues spending an average of £875 per month – and over £950 per month for pubs and bars – on processing and infrastructure.

Combined with terminal outages that cost £2,495 in direct lost revenue annually, traditional checkout systems are draining independent merchant profits. By offering 0% processing fees on all Revolut Pay with Smile transactions through Revolut Register, Revolut will help ease the burden on merchants, reducing fees while removing checkout friction to ease the burden on independent venues.

Beyond immediate financial loss, payment friction causes employees to face customer hostility, with two third of independent venues facing verbal outbursts multiple times a week due to poor checkout experiences. Revolut Pay with Smile will bring innovation to the UK market and deliver on consumer demand by streamlining the in-store payment process:

. Wallet and phone free checkout: Customers who opt in via the Revolut app will be able to simply look at the terminal to pay for a coffee, meal, or round of drinks – no phone or wallet required.

. Bank grade security: Authenticates transactions with end-to-end encryption managed inside the Revolut app and personal data never stored by merchants.

. Enabled by Revolut Register: A modular, two-screen register engineered to unify payments, banking, and floor operations. The built-in eSIM backup will solve connectivity failures ensuring terminals never go offline during peak hours.

The pilot of Revolut Pay with Smile and Revolut Register will expand the firm’s payment ecosystem into facial recognition checkout, unlocking a new revenue stream for the company.

Alex Codina, General Manager of Merchant Payments at Revolut Business, said “With over half of Brits reporting delays or failures due to merchants dropping internet signals, checkout friction is driving customers out the door. To solve this, we’re deploying Revolut’s full technological ecosystem to reinvent the mechanics of the hospitality industry and give consumers the payments experience they deserve. By combining high-performance processing with facial recognition technology, we’ll replace outdated, fragmented tills with a hyper-efficient checkout experience designed to solve consumer and merchant pain points.”

Alex Damgaci, Managing Director at Kiss the Hippo Coffee, said: “In hospitality, a seamless checkout is no longer a luxury, it’s the bare minimum. Technology that takes the friction out of the payment process and offers payment flexibility gives operators the reliability they need to protect revenue and maintain guest satisfaction.

“To mark the pilot, we’ve put together a special menu for the three days, and we’re looking forward to welcoming guests to pay with a smile at our Bloomsbury, Soho and Chelsea cafés.”

Revolut customers in London will be able to experience the new technology first for a limited time at Kiss the Hippo cafés in Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho from 24th to 26th September. Guests who pay with a smile can order from a special Revolut menu, with speciality coffees at £1.

Revolut customers who want to opt-in to Pay with Smile for the pilot, can do via the Revolut app. Paying with a smile will earn triple RevPoints (3x), Revolut’s loyalty programme, on every transaction.

Revolut Register is available at a 50% discount for £349.50 + VAT (RRP: £699 + VAT) on a merchant’s first terminal until 31st December 2026 for both new and existing customers, with Revolut Pay with Smile transactions always having 0% processing fees.

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