The tap feature may still work. What won’t work is the auto ride photos.
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They may work. All mine work.
I think when we were at Guest Services last month they could tell which of our magic bands would still work.
Maybe at your profile on MDE you can see your bands. But not necessarily which still work.
I did need two plain bands for others in our group so kept checking the plain ones at Disney.
Eventually got two colors we could live with . They do sell bands in the parks also.
Also you can buy the plain ones and get stickers or skins from other sources. Or make your own.
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Just to clarify…will the ride photos be there if a few members of our party have apple watches with Magic Mobile enabled?
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Ideally yes. I don’t know if it’s been working though. I seem to remember something about that feature being in beta testing for phones and smart watches.
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So what is the point of Magic Mobile? I’m seeing little value and way more hassle but we’re talking Disney so I shouldn’t be surprised. Why in the world don’t the tickets with barcodes in MDE that are lined up in my account and LOOK like they could be scanned at the gate actually good for that? Stepping off my venting block not since that’s all it is; we have magic bands from our last trip we’re using anyway.
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At Disneyland you can do just that. The only thing I can think of is maybe MagicMobile has more security features?
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It turns your Apple Watch into a Magic Band. That’s cool.
Other than that? Dunno.
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Thank you for all the great replies!
I’m going to get plastic tickets from Guest Services. We went through the hassle of having all the kids install the app and create an account and MagicMobile passes, but now I realize that some of their phones don’t have NFC, so it’s not going to work. I figure we can wait in a line to buy MagicBands or wait in a line to get plastic ticket cards for free, so I choose the latter. 
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For DVC mbrs our mbrshp cards are now only electronic and we have to have to show it through Magic Mobile.
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So that Disney could save face when they stopped free Magic Bands as an onsite benefit. Otherwise there would be screams of “You want me to use this decades old tech after talking up the Magic Bands?!?”
For park entry, I hated getting behind families using the MagicMobile. In fact, I just started to avoid lines with a family and a parent holding a phone in front of them.
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There are two technologies involved: NFC and Bluetooth. For situations that involve tapping (such as tapstyles at park entrances and LLs), NFC is used. NFC doesn’t require a power source, which is why old MagicBands continue to work for tapping indefinitely.
For things like detecting you on-ride automatically from a distance for photos (or, for example, showing your name in the Good Bye room of IASW, etc), it uses Bluetooth. Bluetooth requires a battery, which is why an old MagicBand will likely NOT work for this purpose behind a couple years.
Now, with MagicMobile, it is allowing your phone (assuming it has NFC…which not all smart phones do) to use the NFC chip for tapping in. It MAY also use Bluetooth LE to act like the Bluetooth part of a Magic Band…but that part of the functionality is going to be a lot finickier.
With smart watches, you have a similar issue. Apple Watch does the best in supporting the MagicMobile functionality for tapping in. It is unclear how well it works over Bluetooth LE.
With Android Smart watches, due to the way Google current handles security, MagicMobile doesn’t yet work on them. It is unclear if it ever will, because it is blocked more by Google than by Disney.
The Card Tickets provide the NFC functionality…but I don’t believe they provide the Bluetooth functionality.
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I wonder if the Bluetooth is picked up if I have a newer Magic Band in my park bag and an older one on my wrist?
Generally I carry a back up band (I have three… two new and one from 2018) so I am not sure if the 2018 band is still fully working or not.
So…maybe? Technically, the Bluetooth would be picked up on the newer one (well, assuming it isn’t 2+ years old!)…but the part I’m not sure about is tapping in rules. I’ve heard mixed reports on this. But I THINK you have to use the same band in the park as you tapped into the park with. Yet, I seem to recall reports of people finding that wasn’t always the case…only that ONE of your MBs needs to have tapped into the park for ANY of them to work. So…not sure.
Don’t you have to switch which MagicBand you are using in MDE? Or do they all automatically continue to work? I know you can’t switch which person in your party a MB is assigned to.
I have many MBs linked to me at the same time. We swapped between them each day on our trip.
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I didn’t read the entire thread so please forgive me…when we were there last year you still needed a magic band to get into the gate at the resorts…MagicMobile would get you in the park tap in the lines if needed and open your door, but it would not operate the gates if you were driving…don’t know if they’ve added that function now or not.
My two newer ones were for my October 2021 and January 2022 trips so both should be fine.
Hmmm, I am not sure if I ever swapped bands while in a park. I definitely wore different bands on different days during the same trip.
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That is for sure allowed. I’ve done the same.
I’ve worn my hot pink band one day and my lime green band the next day. Without telling MDE.
At Guest Services last month the CM was able to tell me that either of my gray bands were also still working.
I have not tried switching while in a park.
Also, when DH got confused about which finger to use, a CM with a tablet sort of thing quickly got him set up with a new finger, right there at the tapstyle.
Which we then reset the next day. 
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