With the launch of the new MagicBand+ today at Walt Disney World, we wanted to put the new wearable tech through the paces and answer some questions that we’ve seen guests have. In this article, we’re going to answer how long does it take to recharge a MagicBand+? (Updated: August 4, 2022)
Earlier this morning, we purchased a MagicBand+ that had an extremely low charge. We’ve seen the following charge states represented in the app: Full, Partial, Low, and Charge Soon. When we purchased our MagicBand+, it was in the “Charge Soon” battery state. Of course, this meant that we couldn’t perform the required updates and use our MagicBand+ as intended.
So, we broke out our 10W portable charging brick and hooked up our MagicBand+ to it to begin charging. From a starting position of “Charge Soon” to a charge state of “Full” it took 75 minutes. That said, we don’t think that all “full” charge states are created equal. Without a battery percentage displayed in the My Disney Experience app, it’s possible that “full” could start at 85%. What seems to be clear in our testing is that “full” is not always 100%.
We had two MagicBand+ wearables showing “full” when we started playing the Batuu Bounty Hunters game, and one showed “low” 90 minutes into playing while the other one showed “partial” at the same time. While it’s possible that the MagicBand+ devices could have experienced different power drain, it’s more likely that the “full” on one MagicBand+ wasn’t the exact same as the “full” on another MagicBand+.
If you purchase a MagicBand+, we would plan on a full charge taking at least 90 minutes. From there, the MagicBand+ will lose battery at various rates based on usage. The Batuu Bounty Hunters game seems to be the biggest drain on the battery life with MagicBand+ batteries lasting anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours while playing the game. If you plan on playing Batuu Bounty Hunters, make sure that you have a way to recharge your MagicBand+ while at the parks. Disney officially says that MagicBand+ will last anywhere from 1-3 days.
UPDATE (August 4, 2022): We decided to test a complete charge from dead to 100% full on a standard Apple wall outlet charger. For our purposes, we considered the MagicBand+ dead when it no longer connected to the My Disney Experience app via Bluetooth. Here’s a more detailed experience.
When we first plugged in the MagicBand+, it showed a slow pulsing red on only a quarter of the center “puck” ring. This indicated a very low (“Charge Soon”) to “Low” charge for the MagicBand+. Typically, you’ll want to charge your MagicBand+ past this point at a minimum before heading out to the theme parks.
The next phase was a yellow light on half of the puck ring. This represented a “Low” to “Partial” charge for the MagicBand+. We first noticed the yellow light pop up around 10-15 minutes into the charging session and it lasted until the battery reached “Full”.
It took about 90 minutes for our MagicBand+ to charge from dead to a “Full” status as represented in the app. Now, as we continue to suspect, not all “Full” statuses are created equal. There are two green light statuses as represented by the MagicBand+ while charging. The first green status still reads “Full” on the app, but the green lights only cover half of the puck ring. A second green status is represented by the full puck ring turning green. To reach a full green, it took about 2 hours of charging.
Ultimately, our advice remains the same – prepare to charge your MagicBand+ during the day at the theme parks, and make sure that you’re charging them overnight before using them the next day.
To learn more about MagicBand+, check out our articles below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!