After downloading the app, the user is asked to send a selfie to provide a basis for facial recognition. When the user wishes to make a payment, they simply hold the phone up to their face (selfie-style) and blink once—the blinking is a security measure to prevent criminals from holding the camera up to a picture of the user’s face.
The Selfie Pay app (officially called MasterCard Identity Check) has recently launched in the U.S., Canada, and most of Europe. The app is the latest kind of biometric initiative to emerge in payments.
While we imagine that many people over the age of 30 are somewhat baffled by this millennial encroachment upon the payments space, people under the age of 30 are calling it “Lit AF.”
