How to Pair Sony Speaker XB12

Top front view of the Sony SRS XB12 Extra Bass Bluetooth speaker.

This post shows how to pair the SRS-XB12 Sony speaker with common portable devices, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad line of Apple phones, media players, and tablets.

How to Pair Sony Speaker XB12, Step by Step

With this speaker powered OFF (power button is not glowing), run through these directions to pair it to your source BT mobile device. We’re using an iPad Air computer for this demo.

1. Go to the Home Screen on your Source Device

Firstly, press the Home button to reveal the smart device’s Home screen.

2. Find the Settings App

We find ours on the second page of the Home screen, as shown next.

iOS Home Screen with Settings App Highlighted

3. Bring up the Settings App

Thirdly, touch the Settings app icon.

The smart device then shows 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 Sony Speaker XB12

Our Bluetooth Settings screen appears as follows. Note that our Bluetooth is ON here. But since our Sony SRS XB12 speaker is currently shut OFF (is not in Bluetooth discovery mode), it does not show up in the BT devices list. Furthermore, we don’t see it since we’ve never paired this speaker with our mobile device before.

5. Power Up the Speaker

Turn on this Sony speaker by quickly pressing its Power button. See this, pointed at by the green arrow, in the next picture.

Sony SRS-XB12 speaker powered OFF, showing the -Power- button.

The speaker then powers up, and its status lamp flashes blue, as we see in the next picture. This means that it’s ready to answer a Bluetooth connection request. Note that if it slow blinks, then it’s passively waiting for a Bluetooth connection request to come in. But if it’s fast-flashing blue, then it broadcasts its connection info over Bluetooth so other devices can find this Sony speaker.

But since our iPad does not know about this speaker, the speaker will not pair with it automatically.

The speaker powered ON, showing the Status lamp lit.

6. Activate the Speaker Pairing Mode

Now, to see your SRS-XB12 on your device, place this Sony speaker into Bluetooth discovery / pairing mode. To do that, press the Power button. Then release when the speaker beeps twice and the Status lamp starts flashing rapidly.

Find the Power button as shown above, pointed at by the green arrow.

7. Find the Speaker on your Mobile Device to Continue with How to Pair Sony Speaker XB12

See the screen shot next. We found our SRS-XB12, as pointed at by the green arrow.

iPadOS Bluetooth page, showing the speaker discovered.

8. Pair with your Speaker

Tap the listed speaker in the discovered devices list.

Your mobile device then pairs with the SRS-XB12.

E.g. The the mobile device’s Bluetooth Settings screen might then change to look something like the following. Note the now-connected SRS-XB12 entry, as highlighted by the green arrows in the next screenshot.

iPadOS Bluetooth page, showing the speaker as connected.