There not supposed to. However, the key word is supposed. My parents bought my son one of the Limited Edition HM bands. He wasn't there, wasn't even in the park, and my parents were able to bring it home to link it online. However, due to the colossal issue weve been having (and still having) with the My Experience app, the band ended up linked to me. Long story short, we went back and got him a second one, and they told us the need to link it before leaving. Which we did. To avoid that app.