Picture of the front of the JBL Charge Bluetooth speaker.

JBL Charge Hard Reset

We give the JBL Charge hard reset directions, to return this BT speaker to default out-of-box settings.  Resetting also wipes any prior connected BT devices from its memory. Clearing these stops the Charge 1 from pairing to any nearby Bluetooth devices afterwards.

Also, you might reset to prepare the speaker for sale or re gifting, or simply, to stop it from pairing with devices you no longer wish it to pair with.

JBL Charge Hard Reset, Step by Step Routine

1. Power Up the JBL Charge

Press and hold the Power button until that button lights up and the electronic blip sound plays.

The Power button appears in the next picture, as we point out there with the midnight blue arrow.

Picture of the dark Power / Pairing button.
The dark Power / Pairing button.

Once you press and release, the Power button then lights up, as we see next.

Picture of the blue glowing Power / Pairing button.
The blue glowing Power / Pairing button.

2. Wait for the Power Up Blip Sound

The Charge makes a short low-to-high tone blip sound when it powers on. It is then ready for hard reset after that sound.

Now it may or may not pair with a device automatically because this depends on whether there are any in-range Bluetooth devices that know about this speaker. But whether paired or not though, hard reset works the same way, as follows.

3. Press the Volume DOWN (-) and Power Buttons Together

Find the Power and DOWN Volume (-) buttons. The Power button is the circular button just left of center of the buttons panel.  The Volume DOWN (-)  button is just to the right of the Power button,

Picture of the Power and Volume DOWN buttons.
The Power and Volume DOWN buttons.

The JBL Charge then begins running the hard reset.

Then after a short pause, it turns OFF. Specifically, the Power lamp and battery meter lamps all go dark, and the speaker makes the power-down high-low tone bloop sound.

4. Check that the JBL Charge Hard Reset Did Indeed Happen

Next, power on the unit again, as we detail in step 1 above.

Note that after hard reset, the speaker comes up in Bluetooth discovery mode.

When the Pairing button blinks blue and red, the Charge is in pairing mode.  So it is not currently paired. Indeed, we expect it would not pair to anything after reset, even in-range devices.

5. Done with JBL Charge Hard Reset !

The reset routine is now complete. So you may safely sell or gift the speaker, or pair it again with your favorite Bluetooth devices.

After hard reset, the speaker no longer automatically connects with any earlier paired Bluetooth device that is in range and in pairing mode. Thus, to restore auto pairing, you would first manually pair the Charge with a source device. Then, any time that both speaker and that device have Bluetooth turned on, pairing would automatically happen once again.

Other Posts About the JBL Charge

    1. JBL Charge Firmware Update Directions
    2. JBL Charge Battery Indicator
    3. How to Connect JBL Charge Speaker to iPhone
    4. How to Pair JBL Charge
    5. Connecting the JBL Charge to Alexa

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    4. SRS XB30 Sony Speaker Hard Reset
    5. Sony SRS X3 Hard Reset

References for JBL Charge Reset

    1. JBL Charge Product Page at HarmanAudio.com

Revision History

    • 2022-11-01: First published.