Harris + Hoole, the coffee shop, now a chain 49 per cent owned by Tesco, has launched an iPhone loyalty app for visitors to its 20-plus stores. Users create a profile, including uploading a photo, and select ‘my usual’ to input details of their favourite coffee. When they check in using their handset at a branch of H+H, currently only open in the South East, they can order their usual from the app without having to speak to the person at the till. Similarly to PayPal's new photo validation system for in store payments, their server identifies the customer in the queue using their photo and calls them by their first name. Users also electronically collect loyalty stamps for every drink they order. Mobile payments in the form of pre-loaded credit and should arrive as an update pre-Christmas as well as an Android app is currently in development and should be live before the end of the year. “I think what is perhaps different about our approach is that we don’t view it as digital gimmickry or marketing – we see it as being thoroughly embedded in customers’ experience,” CEO Chief Executive Nick Tolley said. “The idea of being able to pre-order and pay for your coffee, to keep your loyalty card on your phone – these are things that we expect to be … very natural … in five years’ time.