JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth Pairing

This post gives JBL Charge 5 pairing instructions, for Bluetooth 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.

JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth Pairing, Step by Step

With your Charge 5 JBL speaker switched off (power button is not glowing), run through this routine to pair it to your mobile device. We employ an iPad Air tablet in 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.

Picture of an iPad Home screen, with the Settings app highlighted by an arrow. — 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 Charge 5 Bluetooth Pairing

Our Bluetooth Settings screen displays as follows. Note that our Bluetooth is active here. But since this speaker is currently turned OFF, it 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.

Screenshot of the iOS -Bluetooth Settings- page. — The iOS -Bluetooth Settings- page.

5. Turn On your JBL Charge 5

Turn on the 5 by quickly pressing its Power button. See this pointed at by the green arrow in the next picture.

Top view of the JBL Charge 5 power bank speaker, showing the -Power- button when the speaker is OFF. — The JBL Charge 5 power bank speaker, top view, showing the -Power- button when the speaker is OFF.

The speaker then boots and comes on.

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

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

6. Put your Speaker into Bluetooth Pairing-Discovery Mode

Now, to see your JBL Charge 5 on your source BT device, put the speaker into Bluetooth discovery mode. To do that, press and release the Pairing button, as shown in the next picture.

When you press the Bluetooth Pairing button, the speaker makes a repeating single pluck guitar note sound several times. Also, that same button starts flashing white. See this next,

Top view of the JBL Charge 5 wireless speaker, showing the -Power- and -Bluetooth- buttons lit. — JBL Charge 5 wireless speaker, top view, showing the -Power- and -Bluetooth- buttons lit.

7. Find your JBL Charge 5 on your Source Device

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

iPad BT Settings page, showing the JBL Charge 5 speaker as discovered.

8. Pair with your JBL Charge 5

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 -JBL Charge 5- speaker as connected.

Note that the JBL Charge 5 now shows as connected, as pointed at by the green arrows in the last picture.

9. Done with JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth Pairing !

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

References for JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth Pairing

1. JBL Charge 5 Product Page at JBL.com

Revision History

- 2021-08-03: First published.