Hi Carly, and welcome to planDisney. I’m sorry to hear that you’re having issues updating your
MagicBand+, but I’d be happy to help!
It sounds like you’ve already gone through the
troubleshooting tips from the MagicBand+ page, which includes pairing your MagicBand+ in the
My Disney Experience app and checking the battery level (which needs to be at least 60% for the software to update).
To double-check this, turn on your MagicBand+ by pressing the button on the back until the light flashes green. Then open the My Disney Experience app, press ☰ in the lower right corner, and go to MagicBands & Cards under Account. Select your profile, and you’ll see your linked bands. Next to Bluetooth, you should see a Reconnect or Pair button (if you haven’t used your MagicBand+ in a long time, sometimes you’ll have to pair it again). Once that’s done, it’ll say Paired with a green check symbol, and you can check the battery level towards the top.
When your MagicBand+ is paired, you’ll see the MagicBand+ Updates section appear. If it says Up to Date with a green check symbol, you’re good to go. If you see an Update button, you can select that to start the update process. It sounds like this is where you’re having issues.
If you’ve gone through all the other steps, I’d recommend doing a factory reset. I was having problems pairing my MagicBand+, and this got things working smoothly again. To do this, press the button on the back once, quickly followed by a second press that you hold for 15 seconds. You’ll know it’s working if you feel 3 haptic buzzes with rainbow colored lights (it might take a couple of tries to get the timing of the button pressing right, or at least it did for me!). Once that’s done, the lights will turn off and then flash green to let you know the reset is complete.
After the factory reset, try pairing your MagicBand+ again. When I did this, it prompted me to update as part of the pairing process. After pairing was done, I did notice that the Update button was still showing up under MagicBand+ Updates. I pressed that button and went through the update process a second time, and then it finally confirmed it was Up to Date.
I hope this helps resolve the issues you’ve been having! If not, I’d suggest calling the
My Disney Experience, MagicBand, and MagicBand+ phone number, and a Cast Member can continue troubleshooting with you. And, the good news is, even if your MagicBand+ isn’t charged or updated, the basic functionality still works (like scanning into theme park and Lightning Lane entrances, opening your Disney Resort hotel room door, and linking PhotoPass pictures).
One last thing I wanted to mention—there are lots of fun games and interactive features that you can unlock with your MagicBand+! Some of my favorites are the
Batuu Bounty Hunters quest in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and the
Fab 50 Character statues throughout the theme parks.
I’m wishing you a magical visit to Disney World! If you have any other questions, we’d love to have you back at planDisney.
JoAnna