Most every JBL Bluetooth speaker model has several buttons and lights, as well as battery charge status lamps to show speaker power, charging, battery, and pairing status. The power lamp typically lights in either white, blue, or red, to show that status. Most also have a power port access panel, usually on the back or bottom, which is sealed with a semi flexible cover. Some of these speakers also have an auxiliary (AUX) input port as well. Now here we describe the buttons most often found on the JBL Bluetooth speaker. We show you where the controls are on the unit, explain the meaning of each button, what any button combination presses do, when to press them, and how to use the buttons to operate the speaker in general.
JBL Bluetooth Speaker Buttons, Their Codes, Functions, Combinations, and Meanings
You’ll often see the buttons in one or two rows, with most buttons having a unique shape.
The Bluetooth Discovery Mode Button
We begin our button guide with the Bluetooth Discovery mode button. See this in our example speaker pointed out by the green arrow in the next picture. Note its squiggly Bluetooth logo shape of the button.
How to Use the Bluetooth Discovery (Pairing Mode) Button
You press this button anytime you pair the JBL Bluetooth speaker with a never-before-paired source device. It works like this. With the speaker turned ON, press the Bluetooth Discovery button to start up discovery mode. They often refer to this to as Bluetooth pairing mode. Now when in this mode, the speaker sends out its name and other connection info over the Bluetooth air channels, which allows nearby BT devices to find and connect to it.
The Volume Down and Volume Up Buttons
The JBL Bluetooth speaker also sports volume controls. Many of these speakers have these buttons near the center, close to the Bluetooth discovery mode button, the volume buttons are shaped like minus and plus symbols on most models.
When pressed, these buttons lower and raise the output volume of the speaker respectively, by reducing or increasing the volume setting on the paired source device. See the Volume Down and Volume Up buttons pointed at by the green arrows in the next picture.
How to Raise (Turn Up) and Lower (Turn Down) JBL Bluetooth Speaker Volume
With the speaker paired and playing, press the minus shaped Volume Down button to decrease its audio output level. Press the plus shaped Volume Up button to increase audio output.
Note that these loudness controls have no effect when the speaker is not paired. Also, the volume setting might change from paired device to paired device. That is, each paired device remembers its own volume setting. So you might need to re set the sound output when you unpair the speaker from one source device and pair it to another.
The JBL Bluetooth Speaker Play-Pause and Voice Assistant Buttons
The Play / Pause button typically looks like a right-pointing arrow / triangle. We find it near the right side of our sample JBL Bluetooth speaker, as pointed at by the green arrow in the next picture.
How to Pause and Restart Play
Press and release the Play / Pause button quickly to pause audio play. Rapidly press it again to reverse the pause action, and resume playback.
Note that the Play / Pause button is not a mute button. That is, pausing play in this way stops playback on the source Bluetooth device to which this speaker is currently paired. It does not merely just cut the speaker volume while the stream continues going. If streaming, the playing is stopped. So, you won’t miss any content when you pause the speaker, as the source device (your phone, tablet, or computer) remembers where the content was paused. Then it picks up playback where it left off, when you press the play pause button.
Move Back and Fourth in a Playlist
Finally on many JBL speakers, you can skip forward to the next song, or back to the previous song in a playlist with the Play-Pause button. As the song plays, do the following…
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- To advance to the next song, quickly press and release the Play-Pause button twice. Upon doing that, your source device advances to the next song in the current playlist.
- To move back and play the previous song again from the beginning, quickly press and release the Play-Pause button three times. When you do that, your source BT device jumps back one song from the current one in the current playlist, and plays that song from the beginning.
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Note though that some other speaker do not support the skip-back function. So with them, all you can do is move forward through the playlist.
How to Turn the Play / Pause Button into a Voice Assistant Action Button
Some JBL Bluetooth speakers allow you to assign different functions to this button. On these models, when you pair them with an Apple device, you may press and hold the Play / Pause button to get Siri’s attention. Note that you must enable Siri on the source device (phone, tablet) to use Siri through a JBL Bluetooth speaker. Further, you must set this button’s function in the JBL Connect app to Voice Assistant. Do this on the speaker’s Settings page in that app, as pictured next. Thus, to get this functionality, your speaker must work with the Connect app (Not all JBL Bluetooth speaker models do).
In the previous screenshot, the button we are calling Play / Pause is set to perform the Play / Pause function. Note the orange colored setting near the bottom of that screenshot.
But if we want that button to get Siri’s attention, instead of pausing our music, we could touch the Voice Assistant screen item. Doing this changes the Play / Pause button into a Voice Assistant Action button. In this mode, pressing this button alerts the voice assistant on your source Bluetooth device that you wish to ask or command something of it.
The JBL Bluetooth Speaker Power Button
The Power button not only switches the speaker ON and OFF, but on some models also sports a multi-colored light to display speaker status when turned on.
How to Read and Use the Power Button Signals
Quickly press and release the Power button to switch the speaker ON or OFF.
Also, the Power button or a separate status lamp glows in various ways to telegraph speaker states. First, it might flash blue when the speaker has not yet been paired, and is in Bluetooth discovery mode. It glows a solid color when the speaker is paired with a source device. See this blue glow in the next picture.
On our example speaker, the Power button glows solid white when the speaker powered on but not currently paired. This means that it is awaiting a pairing request from a source BT device. But it is not in discovery mode. So while waiting for pairing, the speaker is not broadcasting its connection data for nearby Bluetooth devices to discover. See this button glowing white in the next picture.
Finally, the Power button glows a pale blue-white while the speaker is resetting to factory default settings.
The Connect+ Button
The Connect Plus button, found on later models of the JBL Bluetooth speaker, is used to connect two or more Connect+ compatible speakers together, in “party mode”, such that they all play the same audio content. Similar to speakers playing in Amazon’s multi room music groups, all speakers connected together via Connect+ are synced. That is, they all play the same audio at the same time.
How to Use the Connect Plus Button
You press this button on each JBL Bluetooth speaker you wish to add to the Connect+ group.
The picture above shows the JBL Bluetooth speaker not joined in a Connect+ group, because the Connect+ button is dark. But this button lights when the speaker is joined to a Connect+ group.
JBL Bluetooth Speaker Buttons – Combinations, Codes
All Lights On Test Mode
Entering the All Lights ON mode briefly lights all lamps on the control panel, and then powers down the unit after two seconds. Note though that here, the JBL Bluetooth speaker makes no falling guitar sound when it shuts off. Also during this test, all the lights on the panel light up as shown next, including the battery gauge, as well as the Volume Down and Play-Pause buttons.
Note that all battery gauge lamps also come on during this test, as shown next on our example speaker.
How to Turn All Lights On
To enter this mode, press and hold the Volume Down and Play-Pause buttons that are highlighted in the next picture, for around ten seconds, until you see the lights all come on, as shown in the last picture.
Once you enter All Lights ON, the lights remain ON for a short period before they all shut off. Then, the JBL Bluetooth speaker returns to normal working order once the lamps go back to their pretest state.
Firmware Version Button Combination Code
Pressing the Volume DOWN and Connect+ buttons together, for at least two seconds make the Bluetooth speaker say its current firmware version. It says two or more numbers that comprise this version, in a female voice.
Low Frequency Mode Button Code Combination
You can change how loud the bass is on most later models of the JBL Bluetooth speaker, by turning on and off its low frequency mode. When switched on, this super bass mode makes the passive bass radiators vibrate much more, and adds a low rumble quality to the playing program, that travels pretty far from the speaker.
How to Turn Off Low Frequency Mode
By default, the JBL Bluetooth speaker has this extra bass mode turned ON. This adds some treble and lots of deep bass to the audio output.
You can turn low frequency mode OFF by depressing the Volume Down (-) and Bluetooth buttons for about ten seconds, until the Power and Connect lamps light up briefly.
Find all these buttons on the top of the speaker, as shown in the picture above, pointed at by the green arrows.
How to Turn On Low Frequency Mode
To turn low frequency mode back on, again, press and hold the Volume Down (-) and Bluetooth buttons in until the Power and Connect lamps light. Then release the buttons. Finally, when the buttons inside the circled area above light up, the low frequency mode has resumed once more.
Warning
The speakers inside most JBL Bluetooth speakers really thump when you switch on the low frequency mode. So use caution in how loudly you play this speaker, to avoid damaging the drivers. If the bass is crackling, tapping, or otherwise distorting, turn it down !
JBL Bluetooth Speaker Reset Buttons Code Combination
You can reset the speaker to factory default settings and state by pressing the Volume UP and Play / Pause buttons at the same time and holding them in until the hard factory reset begins. See these buttons pointed at by the green arrows n the next picture.
You may wish to reset the speaker to correct any weird behaviors you notice from it such as failing to pair, sound distortion, failure to power off when you press the Power button, and so on. Note that resetting invalidates any saved connection info about the JBL Bluetooth speaker on your source Bluetooth devices. So you’ll have to forget those connections on these devices, and re pair the speaker after a reset in order to play your audio content through it once again.
JBL Bluetooth Speaker Service Mode Buttons Combination
When in this (often called ‘weird’) mode, the speaker does not power ON unless you connect the external power source. Thus, it will not run on the internal battery while in Service mode. And then, it powers up without you pressing the Power button. I.e. It comes on as soon as you apply outside power. Further, you cannot turn it off in Service mode unless you disconnect the external power source. And then, it powers off without pressing the Power button.
Also, none of the buttons seem to work in Service mode. E.g. The JBL Bluetooth speaker won’t pair with any devices or other speakers when you press the Pairing button, and as mentioned, the Power button does not switch it off either.
How to Turn On Service Mode
To turn on this Service mode on the speaker, power it up first, and then press the Connect and Volume UP buttons at the same time. Hold these in until the speaker powers OFF, which usually takes ten seconds or so. Find these buttons pointed out in the next picture. Note that you can enter this mode as long as the speaker is ON, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s connected to external power or not.
How to Turn Off Service Mode
But once you switch into this Service mode, then to switch it back off, you must connect external power again. Why? Because the speaker won’t come on without outside power, and you can’t change modes without the unit being powered UP.
So, with the speaker Power button glowing, you press and hold the Connect and Volume UP button combination for ten seconds or so, until the unit powers off. Then, normal speaker operation returns.
The JBL Bluetooth Speaker Battery Status Meter Gauge Indicator
Finally, to round out our JBL Bluetooth Speaker buttons guide, most units also have five lights that show the amount of charge left currently in the built in power bank battery. The smaller speakers such as those in the JBL Flip series, have this gauge on a raised plastic strip, close to the buttons. On the bigger models like the Charge, Xtreme, and Boombox offerings, these lamps are on the front, near the bottom of the speaker.
How to Read the Battery Meter
When the internal battery is fully charged, all five battery charge level LEDs glow. As the battery runs down, fewer of the lamps light. In the next picture, the speaker is shown at eighty percent charge. Note that four of the five lamps are lit in this case.
As the battery further discharges, more battery level lights go out, until the charge amount reaches between 0 and 20 percent. In this case, only one lamp, the one on the far left, glows.
Finally, when the battery discharges to nearly dead levels, the far left battery light blinks red. Speaker shutdown happens soon after this. So, recharge it immediately for continued uninterrupted musical enjoyment.
To save power, this meter shuts off after a bit, even though the speaker continues to run. So to see the battery level again, quickly press and release one of the volume buttons.
Other Posts About the JBL Bluetooth Speaker
- JBL Bluetooth Speaker Reset Instructions
- How to Connect JBL Bluetooth Speaker to Alexa
- JBL Bluetooth Speaker Volume Control Described
- How to Restart JBL Charge 3 Bluetooth Speaker
- How to Adjust Volume on JBL Flip 3 Bluetooth Speaker
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References for JBL Bluetooth Speaker Buttons
Revision History
- 2020-12-01: First posted.