Uber Eats is flipping the switch on a contactless ordering feature that's meant to come in handy when you're dining in and ordering takeout amid the pandemic.

The tool is aptly called "Uber Eats Contactless Order Feature" and the idea is to enable you to cover your bill via the app when you're at a restaurant to prevent unnecessary exchanges of heavily touched items such as credit cards, pens and bill holders.

Customers can either scan a QR code at the establishment if they're dining in or find the restaurant on the Uber Eats app for takeout. From there, you can order and pay for your meal on the app. At the restaurant, the food will be brought to their table. If you're ordering takeout, you can drop by to pick up your order at a later time.

“We all have a role to play in keeping each other safe and healthy, and our Contactless Order Feature for both pick-up and dine-in provides another tool for customers and restaurant staff to do just that," said Daniel Danker, head of product at Uber Eats.

Uber Eats is expanding the food pickup option nationwide on Friday, while the dine-in feature is starting with 8 markets and rolling out nationally as more cities recover, the company said.

Indianapolis, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Vermont, Atlanta, New York City and Washington, D.C. will be the first to get the dine-in payment option.

The app updates come as people rely on food delivery apps amid the pandemic to cut down on face-to-face contact with other humans. The move comes as cities and states edge closer toward full reopenings while COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Uber has also required both drivers and passengers to wear masks since May, and has created mask-detecting technology that uses selfie scans to make sure people are compliant with the rules.

Lyft also has a mask requirement in all 50 states, and airlines have instituted similar policies to aid in coronavirus prevention efforts.

This article was originally published By Dalvin Brown, usatoday.com.