How to Pair JBL Speaker to iPhone

Left front view of the JBL Flip 5 Bluetooth speaker.

This post demonstrates how to pair a JBL speaker to iPhone and iPhone like smart devices like tablets, Android phones, and computers.

How to Pair JBL Speaker to iPhone, Step by Step

We’ll run this illustration with a JBL Flip 4 speaker. But other JBL Bluetooth speakers work roughly the same way. So, with your speaker powered off (power button is dark), run through this routine to pair it to your iPhone as follows. We’re using an iPad Air tablet for this demo since we do not have an iPhone to get screenshots from. But again, the setup pages are about the same. So, the routine is virtually the same.

1. Bring Up the Home Screen on your iPhone

Press the Home button to reveal the Home screen.

2. Find the Settings App

We found ours on the second page of the iOS home screen as shown next.

iPhone Home screen showing the Settings app.

3. Bring up the Settings App

Tap the Settings app icon.

The iPhone then displays the first page of its settings, as shown in the next step.

4. Go to the Bluetooth Settings Page to Continue with How to Pair JBL Speaker to iPhone

Our Bluetooth settings screen displays as follows. Note that our Bluetooth is enabled here. But since speaker is currently turned OFF, it does not show up in the devices list. Also, we don’t see it since we’ve never paired this BT speaker with this iOS device before. See this as shown in this list of previously paired Bluetooth devices, shown next.

The previously paired Bluetooth devices list. Note that the JBL speaker we’re going to connect does not appear here yet.

5. Turn On your JBL Speaker

You turn on most JBL speakers by quickly pressing its Power button. See this circled in green for our example, in the next picture.

A JBL speaker turned OFF, showing its -Power- button.

The speaker then boots up.

But since the iPhone would not know about this speaker, the connecting will not happen automatically. The light that comes on in the power switch denotes this not-paired state by glowing solid white, as shown next.

Our speaker, powered ON but not paired.

6. Start up Pairing Mode

Now, to see your JBL speaker on your iPhone, place it into Bluetooth discovery mode (a.k.a. Pairing Mode). To do that, press and release the Bluetooth button, as shown in the next picture.

The -Bluetooth- button.

When you press the Bluetooth Discovery Mode button, the JBL speaker makes a repeating single pluck guitar note sound several times.

Also, on our Flip 4 speaker, the Power button changes from a solid white glow to flashing blue. See this next.

A JBL speaker in Bluetooth discovery mode. Showing the -Power- button, flashing.

7. Find the Speaker on your Phone to Continue with How to Pair JBL Speaker to iPhone

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

iPhone like Bluetooth Settings screen, showing a JBL speaker discovered but not paired yet.

8. Next, Pair with your JBL Speaker

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

Your iPhone then pairs with the speaker (“Tom’s Flip 4” in this example). The iPhone’s Bluetooth Settings screen then changes to look something like the following.

A JBL speaker showing as connected.

9. Done with How to Pair JBL Speaker to iPhone !

You have now successfully paired your JBL wireless speaker with an iPhone. You can now play music through the speaker. And on some models including the Flip 4, you can also make calls on your phone, and hear them all through this speaker.