How to Hard Reset JBL Charge 1

Front view of the JBL Charge Bluetooth speaker.

Shows how to hard reset the JBL Charge 1, to return it to default out-of-box settings. We outline this routine below. Hard resetting also wipes out any prior connected BT devices from its memory. Clearing these stops the Charge from pairing to any nearby Bluetooth devices afterwards.

Also, you might hard reset to prepare the speaker for sale or re gifting, or simply, to stop it from pairing with devices you no longer wish it to pair with.

How to Hard Reset JBL Charge 1: Step by Step

1. Turn On the Speaker

Press and hold the Power button until that button lights up and the electronic blip sound plays.

The Power button appears in the next picture, as we point out there with the blue arrow.

The dark Power / Pairing button on the JBL Charge 1.

Once you press and release, the Power button then lights up, as we see next.

The blue glowing Power / Pairing button.

2. Wait for the Power Up Blip Sound

The Flip makes a quick low-to-high tone blip sound when it powers on. It is then ready for hard reset after this little chirp finishes.

Now it may or may not pair with a device automatically because this depends on whether there are any in-range Bluetooth devices that know about this speaker. But whether paired or not though, hard reset works the same way, as follows.

3. Press the Volume DOWN (-) and Power Buttons Together

Find the Power and DOWN Volume (-) buttons. The Power button is the circular button just left of center of the buttons panel. The Volume DOWN (-) button is just to the right of the Power button,

The Power and Volume DOWN buttons.

The Charge then enters hard reset.

Then after a short pause, the JBL Charge turns OFF. Specifically, the Power lamp and battery meter lamps go dark, and the speaker makes the power-down high-low tone blip sound.

4. Check that the Hard Reset Did Indeed Happen

Next, power on the unit again, as we detail in step 1 above.

Note that after hard reset, the speaker comes up in Bluetooth discovery mode.

When the Bluetooth button blinks blue and red, the Charge is in pairing mode. So it is not currently paired. Indeed, we expect it would not pair to anything after hard reset, even in-range devices.

5. Done with How to Hard Reset JBL Charge 1!

The hard reset routine is now complete. So you may safely sell or gift the speaker, or pair it again with your favorite Bluetooth devices.

After reset, the speaker no longer automatically connects with any earlier paired Bluetooth device that is in range and in pairing mode. Thus, to restore automatic Bluetooth pairing, you would first manually pair the Charge with a source device. Then, any time that both speaker and that device have Bluetooth turned on, pairing would automatically happen once again.