This post shows how to connect the JBL Flip portable Bluetooth speaker to Alexa smart speakers. Since this pairing occurs between the JBL and Echo devices directly, you need not turn Bluetooth on in the mobile device you’re using to set up this connection.
How to Connect JBL Flip to Alexa: Step by Step
With your Flip 1 powered OFF (status lamp is dark), run through this routine to connect it to your Alexa Echo, Show, Studio, Input, and Dot models. We use an iPad Air tablet to set this up.
1. Find the Alexa App on your Mobile Device
We found the app on the iPad Air as shown in the next shot. In this exercise, the app is in a custom folder we set up, called Smart Speakers, pointed at by the green arrow.
2. Run the Alexa App
The app displays its Home screen as we see in the next screenshot.
3. Tap the More Item to Continue with How to Connect JBL Flip to Alexa
Find the hamburger item in the lower right corner of the screen. We point at this with the green arrow in the last screenshot.
This brings up the Alexa app’s main menu, as follows.
4. Tap the Settings Option on the Main Menu
The Settings option is pointed at by the green arrow in the last photo.
This brings up the Settings screen, as we see in the next screenshot.
5. Tap the Device Settings Option
Touching Device Settings brings up the All Devices page.
From here, choose which Echo device you wish to pair with your JBL Flip 1 speaker.
6. Tap the Alexa Device you Wish to Connect
This takes you to the device-specific settings screen for the speaker you chose.
In this demo, we’re pairing from our Thomas’s 2nd Echo Dot 4 speaker to our JBL Flip 1, and so, its device specific settings screen looks as follows.
7. Tap the Connect a Device Item
Find the Connect a Device option pointed at by the green arrow in the last screenshot.
This brings up the Setup screen, as we show next.
At this point, your Alexa device scans for nearby Bluetooth devices that are in pairing mode. Here, we selected an Echo Dot 4 earlier. So, this speaker will be the one that scans for BT devices.
Note that our Dot speaker found no devices so far. But it will in the next steps, when we turn on the JBL Flip and put it in pairing mode.
8. Power Up the JBL Flip
Bring your speaker close to your Alexa device to pair, and power up that speaker by pressing and releasing the Power / Pairing button as we show in the next picture.
The speaker boots and beeps, and then the Power / Pairing button lights up either solid blue (if it pairs to a nearby BT device), or flashes blue and red to indicate that pairing mode is active.
9. Place the BT Speaker into Pairing / Discovery Mode
Put your speaker into pairing mode by pressing and releasing the Power / Pairing button. The speaker responds by playing two beeps, and this button flashes blue and red.
10. Find the JBL Flip on the Alexa App SETUP Page
When you put the speaker into discovery mode, it should then appear in the Alexa app, on the Pair Bluetooth Device… page, as we see next.
Note that if your speaker does not show up on this page at this point, then try moving it very close to the Alexa speaker, closing and restarting the Alexa app, and then repeating steps 3 through 7 along with step 9 above. We usually find that this gets the speaker to appear here as it should.
11. Find your JBL Flip on the Discovered Devices List
See the last screenshot above. Our test speaker is there.
12. Finally, Pair your Alexa with your JBL Flip Speaker
Pair to the speaker by tapping its corresponding entry on the Pair Bluetooth Device… screen, we see in the last screenshot above.
Your Alexa speaker then pairs with the wireless speaker.
The app then takes you back to the Thomas’s 2nd Echo Dot 4 screen, which looks something like the following.
Note that our Bluetooth speaker now shows as connected. Also, the JBL speaker makes the Speaker Paired sound (two beeps).
This speaker is now connected with your Alexa smart speaker. Its Bluetooth light glows solid white to signal that successful pairing is in effect.
13. Done with How to Connect JBL Flip to Alexa !
We can now ask Alexa to play music or news, and those programs will come out of the JBL Flip. Be sure though, to speak to the Echo speaker when making requests, and not the Bluetooth speaker. Even though the Flip 1 is now paired with Alexa, the Echo is still the speaker that hears your voice commands through its internal far field microphones.
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Revision History
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- 2022-09-11: First published.