JBL Charge 5 Volume Control

JBL Charge 5 BT speaker, front left view.

There are a few ways for how to set the JBL Charge 5 volume control on this model. So these can depend on the app(s) you’re playing from. In fact, many apps offer volume controls for their sound output levels. Furthermore, the Charge 5 has two buttons for volume control too. So find these (the + and -) shaped buttons on its top. Note though, that you cannot change volume with the JBL Connect app.

JBL Charge 5 Volume Control: Change Volume with Speaker Buttons

You can set the volume without using any apps as follows.

1. Position the Charge 5 such that the Raised Controls Face You

Firstly, there are six buttons in this row, which include the buttons inside the light panel. Furthermore, these include the Volume DOWN (-), and Volume UP (+), controls. So find these to the left and to the right of the glowing oval shaped panel. Finally, they are near the center of the button row.

The JBL Charge 5 top view. Showing the -Volume DOWN- and -Volume UP- buttons.

2. Change the JBL Charge 5 Volume Control by Pressing the – and + Buttons

Then press the (-) button to decrease the volume. Tap the (+) button to increase the volume.

3. Done !

JBL Charge 5 Volume Control: Use Siri Voice Commands

Siri prompting for voice command screen on iOS device.

This Charge 5 lets you activate Siri by pressing the Play / Pause button. This button looks like a right pointing arrow head. This function will not work though, until you change the assignment of the Play / Pause button. Do that in the JBL Portable app. At any rate, assuming you did this, press that button. Then you get the screen on your iPadOS or iOS device shown in the last picture.

Commands to Siri

Next is an example of giving Siri a voice command to set the volume to half (50 percent).

Siri changing volume to half (50 percent).

Then ask her to raise and lower the volume as follows.

Siri Response

Next is an example of Siri responding to a voice command to set the volume to FULL (100 percent).

Siri changing volume to full (100 percent).

Siri currently understands one scale for volume adjustment: 0-100 percent. Example commands follow. Say these after you’ve pressed the Play / Pause to wake her up.

- Set volume 0 [muted].
- Volume 0.
- Set volume 10 [Ten percent].
- Set volume 10 percent.
- Volume 10.
- Set volume 76 percent.
- Volume 76.
- Set volume 100 [One hundred percent, full volume].

There are also shortcut commands for lowest and highest volume setting, as in:

- Mute. [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]
- Half volume. [Adjusts volume to fifty percent, or half of full.]
- Set volume full. [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
- Set volume max. [Sets speaker volume to maximum, 100 percent.]
- Volume half. [Adjusts volume to fifty percent, or half of full.]
- Volume minimum. [Sets the volume to zero percent, minimum, muted state.]

JBL Charge 5 Volume Control: Change It on the Source Device

You can change the volume with the controls on the paired source device too.

Further, you can do the same with paired Android devices. But volume changes on the Charge 5 do not affect the setting on our Samsung Galaxy J7 phone. So for this device, the controls on the speaker seem to set the gain of the speaker itself. It does not change the phone volume setting however. In fact, we hear distortion in the Charge 5 at loud phone volumes. And that’s even with the speaker volume at half and the phone volume at maximum. So, just be aware of this so you can avoid “over driving” the speaker with your Android device.

In this scenario though, we play YouTube content on our iPad Air. Then we stream the audio to the JBL Charge 5.

1. Pair your JBL Charge 5

2. Begin Playing a Music Source

Start streaming an internet radio station, a song from YouTube, Deezer, or Amazon Music for example, or an Audible book. So in this demo, we stream YouTube audio to the Charge 5.