Revisiting Facial-Recognition Payment: Old Problems Still Lingering

Summary: The recent expansion of facial recognition payment in China is hampered by the perception of weak security, incomplete UI feedback, and misleading mental models.

China is a world leader in adopting innovative payment methods. Most Chinese today use their mobile phones to make payments and many people don’t carry a physical wallet. Mobile-payment apps like Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay have vastly outpaced cash and credit cards as the dominant forms of payment. Now facial-recognition payment (FRP, 刷脸支付) is gaining traction in China as well.

To use FRP, users must first register their face and upload bank-card information to a mobile app. Then, they can complete payments by simply glancing at cameras positioned at the checkout in stores.

FRP has become a popular payment method, used mostly in convenience stores, vending machines, and supermarkets. According to iiMedia Research' s estimates , more than 495 million Chinese used facial-recognition payment in 2021 — that’s roughly one third of China’s population. Interestingly, Chinese people refer to facial recognition as "swipe the face," just like swiping a physical card.