London coffee shops test pay-by-face checkout, and Revolut is offering £1 coffee for it

Revolut is testing facial-recognition payments at London coffee shops and offering £1 ($1.33) to those who participate.

Here's what to know

Buying coffee in London could be as easy as looking at the register. The test ran from Thursday through Saturday at Kiss the Hippo stores in Bloomsbury, Soho, and Chelsea, The Independent reported. Revolut customers who want to join the pilot can opt in through the app. 

At checkout, the terminal is meant to check the shopper's face against the selfie ID already linked to app access. Revolut said merchants do not keep that facial information, and users can "simply glance at the terminal to pay."

The company is pitching the system as a convenience tool to speed up checkout. If it works as intended, shoppers would not need to reach for a wallet, tap a card, or rely on their phone battery for the transaction.

Alex Codina of Revolut said: "We've all had that moment of panic at the till when a terminal freezes, your phone is at 1% battery, or your hands are too full to dig out your card. Shopping should be effortless, not a test of your patience. You can leave your wallet in your pocket, skip the awkward wait, and pay for your morning coffee with just a glance. It's simple, completely secure, and turns a chore into something seamless."

More background

Research from Revolut found that Generation Z shoppers are five times more likely than baby boomers to walk away when payment issues come up, having "zero patience for till and checkout lag." 

Retailers and payment companies have spent years trying to make checkout less cumbersome. That has led to tools such as contactless cards, digital wallets, self-checkout stations, and camera-based systems designed to move customers through stores faster.

Some of those experiments have worked better than others. Amazon Fresh pushed walk-out shopping, which billed customers after software tracked the items they took, but the company closed those till-free shops less than five years later.

Tesco faced complaints over error-flagging overhead cameras, and self-checkout has separately drawn criticism over delays and theft concerns.

Where can I learn more?

These stories look at other ways in-store experiences are changing.

• At Starbucks, free refills in ceramic mugs are part of a push to cut waste.

• A viral "coffee in a bucket" trend turned new to-go containers into a flashpoint over plastic waste.

• At Mad Coffee, coffee pod packaging made from plants is replacing conventional plastic shells.

• EG America stores added in-store buyback kiosks that pay shoppers instantly for used devices.

• In New Zealand, schools are testing supermarket reverse vending to turn bottles into fundraising.

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