IT costs nothing to smile, they say – but on the high street of tomorrow, it might.
The UK’s first-ever facial recognition checkout has landed, letting customers pay for a coffee using just their face, with no wallet or phone required.
Developed by online bank Revolut and dubbed “Pay With Smile”, the tech has been on a brief trial at three Kiss The Hippo coffee shops in London which ends today.
But with so many of us switching from cash to contactless already, it may not be too long before you are able to pay with your face at a shop near you.
So The Sun headed out to test the technology.
Although you have to be a Revolut customer and opt in for it to work, the actual process of paying was simple.
It wasn’t too different to using your face to unlock your phone or get through the barriers at an airport.
I’d already uploaded a selfie when I first opened an account with the bank, which is how the Revolut checkout till recognised my face.
Revolut’s systems compare it to the photo of me on its database — which means the business I’m buying from never actually gets hold of my facial data.
The circle on the screen goes round for a couple of seconds and then — ding!
It’s a match, and the money comes out of my account. I now have a flat white, and I didn’t even have to take my hands out of my pocket.
If you find contactless dangerous because it doesn’t feel like you are using real money, wait until you try this.
But so far, the trial seems to have proved popular.
The baristas at the coffee shop in central London told me that around 120 people gave it a go on the first day.
Once the preserve of science fiction films, facial recognition cameras are now becoming commonplace.
“Facewatch” technology is being rolled out in supermarkets around the country, live-scanning everyone who walks into their store — and sending staff an alert if it detects a person who is on a shoplifting watch list.
Last month Sainsbury’s apologised to entertainment promoter Matt Arnold, 46, and blamed “human error” after its tech wrongly identified him as a shoplifter at a branch in Dulwich, South London.
Here, we speak to four coffee shop customers to see how they feel about paying using just their face.
FINANCIAL tech worker Niall Curley was not put off by the idea of paying at the till with his face.
Niall, 28, said: “I would be up for it.
“They have all our data anyway, and it makes my life easier.”
Ellie Maddox, 28, disagreed with her colleague Niall.
She admitted: “It would make me uncomfortable.
“But I can definitely see it becoming a thing somewhere down the line.”
Tamir Mirzoev has “mixed feelings” about the new face tech.
The 25-year-old, who works in fashion, said: “I get the convenience.
“But it depends on what happens to your data.”
Fashion buyer Ella Wilkinson, 24, has tried the tech for the first time.
“I think it’s quite cool,” she said.
“I wouldn’t use my face to pay for a £300 jacket, but I think would do it again for a coffee.”