Picture of the dark lights on the powered OFF JBL Pulse 3 speaker.

How to Reset JBL Pulse 3 Speaker

Covers how to reset the JBL Pulse 3 wireless speaker to its default settings. Resetting restores this speaker to factory default state. Resetting erases any earlier paired Bluetooth devices from its memory. Clearing these stops the Pulse 3 from pairing to any nearby Bluetooth devices after the reset. Also, you might reset your speaker to get it ready for sale or re gifting, or to stop it from pairing with devices you no longer wish it to pair with.

How to Reset the JBL Pulse 3 Bluetooth Speaker

1. Turn on the JBL Pulse 3

Press and hold the Power button until it lights up.

Picture of the Power button on the speaker back. How to Reset JBL Pulse 3.
The Power button on the speaker back.

Find the Power button, as shown in the last picture above.

Then, the Power button lights up along with the battery power scale, as shown next.

Picture of the glowing Power light.
The Power lamp glowing.

In our case, since we’ve paired the speaker with Bluetooth devices since the last reset, it does not enter discovery mode. We know that because the Pairing Status button is dark, rather than flashing.

Picture of the dark Pairing Status light on a running JBL Pulse 3 speaker.
Here the speaker is running, but has a dark Pairing Status lamp.

2. Wait for the Power Up Sound

The Pulse 3 makes a rising electric guitar strum sound when it powers up. The JBL Pulse is ready for use after this sound ends.





3. Press the Volume UP and Play-Pause Buttons Together

See the next picture to find the Play-Pause and Volume UP buttons.

Picture of the Volume UP and Play-Pause buttons on the JBL Pulse 3 speaker.
The JBL Pulse 3 speaker Volume UP and Play-Pause buttons.

The speaker then runs its reset routine, as shown in the next picture. Note that all lamps light up for a couple seconds as the process executes.

Then after a short pause, the JBL Pulse 3 turns off. All the lights go out, and it makes the power-down guitar sound.

Picture of the dark lights on the powered OFF speaker.
The speaker powered OFF with all lamps dark.

4. Check that the reset of the JBL Pulse 3 Did Occur

Next, power on the speaker again, as we detailed in step 1 above.  Press and release the Power button.

Now this time, after reset, our speaker comes up in Bluetooth pairing mode, as we see in the next picture. Note that the Power button blinks white  to denote this. When it flashes or is dark, the Pulse 3 is not currently paired. indeed, we expect it not to pair to anything after a reset.  And, it not pairing to anything nearby is a sure sign that the reset did indeed work.

Picture of the glowing Pairing Status light on the JBL Pulse 3 speaker.
The JBL Pulse 3 speaker Pairing Status lamp glowing.

A reset also reverts the selected color lightshow pattern back to default… a sort of rising horizontal color bands pattern.

5. Done with How to Reset the JBL Pulse 3 !

The reset is now done. You may now pack the unit up for sale, or pair it again with your favorite Bluetooth devices. The Pulse 3 will no longer automatically link with any previously paired source device that is in range. To restore auto pairing, manually pair this speaker with a device. Then after that, any time that both speaker and that device have Bluetooth turned on, pairing with automatically occur again.





Other Posts About the JBL Pulse 3

  1. JBL Pulse 3 Firmware Update Instructions

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References for How to Reset the JBL Pulse 3 Speaker

  1. Pulse 3 JBL Speaker Official Product Page at JBL.com

Revision History

  • 2022-08-04: First published.