How to Pair JBL Charge Speaker

This post shows how to pair a JBL Charge Bluetooth speaker with common mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod mobile devices.

How to Pair JBL Charge, Step by Step

With your Charge 1 powered OFF (power button is dark), run through this routine to pair it to your mobile device.

Picture of the dark Power / Pairing button on the JBL Charge 1 Bluetooth speaker. — The dark Power / Pairing button on the JBL Charge 1 Bluetooth speaker.

1. Navigate to the Home Screen on your Device

Press the Home button to bring up the device’s Home screen. Shown next.

2. Find the Settings App

We found ours on the second page of an iPad home screen, shown next.

Picture of an iPad Home screen, with the Settings app highlighted by an arrow. — iOS Home Screen with Settings app highlighted.

3. Bring up the Settings App

Tap the Settings app icon.

The mobile device then displays the first page of its settings, as we see in the next step.

4. Go to Bluetooth Settings to Continue with How to Pair JBL Charge

Our Bluetooth settings screen displays, similar to the following.

Note that our Bluetooth is enabled here. But since JBL speaker is currently powered OFF, it does not show up in the Bluetooth devices list. Also, we don’t see it since we’ve never paired this speaker with the iPad Air before. See this as shown in this list of previously paired Bluetooth devices, shown next.

Screenshot of an iPad Air, showing its previously paired Bluetooth devices list. Note that there's no JBL Boombox speaker now. — An iPad Air, showing its previously paired Bluetooth devices list. Note that there’s no JBL Boombox speaker now.

5. Turn On your Charge Speaker

Turn on this unit by quickly pressing its Power / Pairing button. The speaker then boots and that button starts glowing or flashing blue, as we see next.

Picture of the blue glowing Power / Pairing button on the JBL Charge 1 BT speaker. — The blue glowing Power / Pairing button on the JBL Charge 1 BT speaker.

The speaker then powers up.

But since the iPad does not know about this speaker, the JBL Charge will not pair with it automatically. The light in the Power / Pairing button denotes this not-paired state by slow or quick flashing.

6. Put your JBL Charge 1 into Bluetooth Pairing Mode

Now, to see your Boombox on your mobile device, place the speaker into pairing mode. To do that, press and hold the Power / Pairing button until the speaker beeps, and that button starts fast blinking.

When you press the Power / Pairing button, the speaker makes a repeating sequence of beeps.

7. Find your Bluetooth Speaker on your Mobile Device to Continue with How to Pair JBL Charge

See the screen shot next. We found our speaker, as pointed at by the green arrow.

Screenshot of the iPadOS Bluetooth Settings page, showing the JBL Charge speaker, discovered but not paired. — iPadOS Bluetooth Settings page, showing the JBL Charge speaker, discovered but not paired.

8. Next, Pair with your BT Speaker

Tap the listed speaker in the Other Devices section of the Bluetooth devices list.

Your source device then pairs with the Charge (named “JBL Charge” in this demo). The mobile device’s Bluetooth Settings screen then changes to look something like the following.

Screenshot of the JBL Charge 1 speaker showing as Connected on iPadOS. — The JBL Charge 1 speaker showing as Connected on iPadOS.

9. Done with How to Pair JBL Charge !

We have now successfully paired this BT speaker. Similar routines work with pairing iPod Touch players, iPad Pros, and any iPhones as well so long as they support Bluetooth. Pairing with Android devices works in similar fashion as well.

References for How to Pair JBL Charge

1. Charge 1 Speaker Official Product Page at HarmanAudio.com

Revision History

- 2022-09-12: First published.