JBL Bluetooth Speaker Pairing Instructions

Front view of the JBL Boombox BT speaker.

This post gives JBL Bluetooth speaker pairing instructions, for BT source devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad line of Apple phones and tablets. Moreover, a routine with some small variation also works for Android phones and tablets. In this scenario, we show pairing the JBL Charge 5 speaker, but all other JBL Bluetooth speakers work in similar fashion.

JBL Bluetooth Speaker Pairing Instructions, Step by Step

With your Bluetooth speaker switched off (power button is not glowing), run through this routine to pair it to your mobile device. We run with an iPad Air tablet for this demo.

1. Find your Way to the Home Screen on your Tablet or Phone

Press the Home button to uncover the mobile device’s Home screen.

2. Find the Settings App

We found ours on the second page of our Home screen.

iOS Home Screen with Settings App Highlighted

3. Bring up the Settings App

Tap the Settings app icon.

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

4. Go to Bluetooth Settings to Continue with JBL Bluetooth Speaker Pairing

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

The iOS -Bluetooth Settings- page.

5. Turn On your JBL Bluetooth Speaker

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

Top view of a typical JBL Bluetooth speaker, showing the -Power- button when the unit is OFF.

The speaker then boots and comes on.

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

The light in the Power switch then comes on white. Moreover, this glowing Power button denotes this not-paired state as shown next.

6. Put your Speaker into Pairing-Discovery Mode

Now, to see your JBL Bluetooth speaker on your source device, put it into pairing mode. To do that, press and release the Pairing button, as shown in the next picture.

When you press the Bluetooth Pairing button, most JBL Bluetooth speakers make a repeating single pluck guitar note sound several times. Also, that same button starts flashing. See this next. Also note that on some speakers, this button, or the Power button, may blink blue, depending on the speaker model you have.

Top view of the speaker, showing the -Power- and -Bluetooth- buttons lit.

7. Find your JBL Bluetooth speaker on your Source BT Device

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

iPad BT Settings page, showing the JBL Bluetooth speaker as discovered.

8. Pair with your JBL Bluetooth Speaker

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

Your mobile device then pairs with the speaker (“JBL Charge 5” in this demo).

The device’s Bluetooth Settings screen then changes to look something like the following.

iPad -Bluetooth Settings- page, showing the target JBL Bluetooth speaker as Connected.

Note that the test speaker now shows as connected, as pointed at by the green arrows in the last picture.

9. Done with JBL Bluetooth Speaker Pairing Instructions !

At last we have successfully paired this wireless speaker with a typical mobile device. Again, this procedure also applies when pairing with Apple iPhone and iPod devices, although the screen faces may differ slightly on the iPhone.