Hard Reset JBL Charge 5 — How to Do It

JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth speaker, front right view.

Here, we demo hard reset of the JBL Charge 5. First, turn the 5 on. Next, wait for it to finish booting. Then press and release the Volume UP and Play-Pause buttons at the same time. Then wait for the unit to shut down. At this point, Hard reset is complete. So the next time you turn it on, it comes up in pairing mode, and is ready to connect. We detail this routine next.

Hard Reset JBL Charge 5: Step by Step Details

Resetting puts the 5 back into its default factory state. Plus, it purges any earlier paired Bluetooth devices from memory. So, this stops the Charge 5 from connecting to any devices after hard reset. Also, you should do this when selling or gifting the 5.

1. Turn on the Charge 5

Press and release the Power button. It should light up solid white right away.

The JBL Charge 5 top view. Showing the dark -Power- button.

Find the Power button, pointed at by the green arrow in the last picture above.

Then, the Power button comes on, as shown next. Here, since we’ve paired the 5 with Bluetooth devices before this, it does not enter Bluetooth discovery mode by itself. We know that because the Bluetooth button remains OFF, rather than blinking white. Note the dark Bluetooth button, to the right of the glowing Power button in the next picture.

The -Power- button glowing.

2. Wait for the Power Up Sound

The 5 makes a rising electric guitar strum sound when it powers up. Then it is ready once this sound finishes.

3. Press the Volume UP and Play-Pause Buttons Together

See the next picture to find the UP Volume and Play-Pause buttons.

The -Volume Up- and -Play-Pause- buttons.

The Charge 5 then enters hard reset, as shown in the next picture. Note that both the Power and Bluetooth buttons and the egg shaped ring that surrounds them. All of these light up for a couple seconds during reset. I.e. The ring and both buttons glow gray-white.

JBL Charge 5 top view. Showing all lights glowing.

Then after a short pause, the Charge 5 switches off. All lights go dark, and it makes the power-down guitar sound.

Top front view of the speaker.

4. Check that Hard Reset of the JBL Charge 5 Did Occur

Next, power on the speaker again, as we did in step 1 above. In short, press and release the Power button.

Now this time, after hard reset, our speaker instantly comes up in Bluetooth discovery mode, as shown next. We did not need to press the Bluetooth button first. Note that the Bluetooth button blinks to let you know that the speaker has entered Bluetooth discovery mode. When this button blinks or is dark, the speaker is not currently in a pairing session. Indeed, we expect it not to pair to anything after this.

The -Power- and -Bluetooth- buttons aglow.

5. Done with Hard Reset JBL Charge 5 !

The hard reset of the JBL Charge 5 is now complete. Thus you may now pack it up for sale, or pair it again with your favorite Bluetooth devices.

Now the Charge 5 will no longer automatically pair with any device after reset. So you need to forget the previously paired JBL Charge 5 in your source device settings. Once you do that, then you may manually pair the 5 with that device again. Then, any time that both speaker and that device are in range, auto pairing happens once more.