I’m seeing some concern about Magic Bands being replaced by smartphones on my feed, so I thought I’d dive a bit into the tech and how it *could* be implemented in the future via ya know.... a THREAD

First let’s talk about how magicbands have traditionally been implemented. Inside each band there is both an RFID antenna and an NFC antenna.

Typically, RFID antennas are used for more long range communications. Ex: exiting an attraction and having your PhotoPass photos automatically hit your MDE account? That’s RFID. No input necessary

On the flip side of that coin, NFC or Near Field Communication antennas are used for things like Apple Pay, or park entry. Think much closer interactions.

Another piece of tech is a lot more familiar - Bluetooth. Hotel Room Entry through the MDE app requires Bluetooth to be enabled.

With the exception of room entry (which requires you to unlock your phone & the MDE app), both RFID & NFC require minimal interaction. With NFC for example, you just have to place your band near the reader. RFID you don’t need to do anything.

I’ve seen the concern that removing MagicBands and shifting to a smart phone will add friction to the theme park experience. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. To be honest, I think a lot of the experience can be improved by doing this.

2/3 of the aforementioned technologies are already available in most modern smartphones. NFC & of course bluetooth. I can’t find any examples of RFID being in phones, but we’ll get there.

How *could* this work? I’ll speak mostly to the apple ecosystem because that is what I am most familiar with. If you have an iPhone, there could be 2 options. Preferably, I’d love to see Disney implement your pass into your wallet app.

If you’re unfamiliar, double click your side button right now. If enabled, that gesture should bring up any Apple Pay cards as well as QR code passes (think movie tickets). Disney could in theory add your pass to this app. Double click, pick your pass, wave at the terminal. Done.

This is all protected via biometrics like Face/Touch ID, or your passcode. Alternatively, Disney could also use a QR code here (hey Uni, I’d love to see you have our passes available here as well as the app)

The only question I have here is, I’m not sure if these cards can verify your account has been paid. If there are any app developers out there that might know, please let me know.

Another possibility (and the one I really don’t want) is Disney implements either NFC or QR code into the MDE app. This presents the most friction as you’d have to unlock your phone, open the app, wait for the app to load, and then wave or scan. Hopefully this a’int it

This strategy could work for park entry and payments at restaurants or stores. Room entry is a little odd becuase they seem to be using bluetooth for that, unlike park entry.

This theory would require a bit of coordination with Apple, but there is also an iPhone feature for transit where you can just wave your phone by a terminal. No authentication needed. It’s called Express Transit. It’s really cool, but again - a lot of work needed.

Details on express transit can be found here https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209495 

In theory, a lot of this same technology could be implemented for your Apple Watch. This is a dream scenario for me becuase while I have a magic band I have never worn it. I already wear my watch because it provides more utility, and I don’t really want to wear two wrist bands

An added benefit here is that Disney could easily sell themed watch bands just like they do magic bands. Guests would wear them in the parks, but you know they’d also sport them long after their vacation was over. Win win.

The only tech that this leaves out is RFID. This is where I admit we’d be losing a little bit of functionality. Again, tech heads out there please help me theorize how photopass could work with todays tech, but I can’t think of anything right now

Which would mean you’d either have to purchase the keychain holder for a magicband puck, or Disney would have to install terminals at the exit of each attraction that has photopass to scan your phone. I’ll admit, this is a loss

This hasn’t been implemented a ton, but Disney also has toyed with using RFID as a way to identify you in an attraction to personalize it. Think of It’s a Small World saying “adios Danny”. Considering they have barely dipped their toes into this, I personally won’t cry over it

Finally, RFID is also used a bit for Disney to track traffic flow throughout the park. Clearly, they’ve got bigger fish to fry and the announcement that they won’t give out MagicBands anymore is a clear indication that they are cool with losing this functionality

JK - one last thing. I’ve seen a lot of talk of battery life. Putting aside that most battery drain comes from you scrolling through this very app while in line, NFC uses very little power. Even further, that express transit feature? That could technically be used with no power

I’m sure I’m missing a lot, so I might add more info to this thread in the future. Of course, if anyone has any insight to add please throw it in here. Android users/devs, I’d love more info on that end of the spectrum too!