Picture of the Volume UP and Play-Pause buttons on the JBL Pulse 3 speaker.

JBL Pulse 3 Factory Reset Instructions

These JBL Pulse 3 factory reset instructions show you how to return this Bluetooth speaker to its default settings and state. It erases any earlier paired Bluetooth devices from memory. Clearing these stops the Pulse 3 from connecting to any nearby Bluetooth devices after factory reset. Also, you might do this to get it ready for sale or re gifting, or to stop it from pairing with devices you no longer wish it to pair with.

JBL Pulse 3 Factory Reset Instructions, Step by Step

1. Turn on the JBL Pulse 3

Press and hold the Power button until it lights up.

Picture of the Power button on the speaker back. JBL Pulse 3 Factory Reset.
The Power button on the speaker back.

Find the Power button, as shown in the last picture above.

Then, this button lights up along with the battery power scale, as shown next.

Picture of the glowing Power light.
The Power lamp glowing.

In our case, since we’ve paired the speaker with Bluetooth devices since the last factory reset, it does not enter pairing mode. We can tell that because the Pairing Status button is dark, rather than flashing.

Picture of the dark Pairing Status light on a running JBL Pulse 3 speaker.
Here the speaker is running, but has a dark Pairing Status lamp.

2. Wait for the Power Up Sound

The Pulse 3 JBL speaker makes a rising electric guitar strum sound as it boots. When you hear this, the speaker is ready for use.





3. Press the Volume UP and Play-Pause Buttons Together

See the next picture to find the Play-Pause and Volume UP buttons.

Picture of the Volume UP and Play-Pause buttons on the JBL Pulse 3 speaker.
The JBL Pulse 3 speaker Volume UP and Play-Pause buttons.

The speaker then runs its factory reset routine, as shown in the next picture. Note that all lamps light up for a couple seconds as the process executes.

Then after a short pause, the JBL Pulse 3 switches off. All the lights go out, and it makes the power-down guitar sound.

Picture of the dark lights on the powered OFF speaker.
The speaker powered OFF with all lamps dark.

4. Check that your JBL Pulse 3 Did Indeed Factory Reset

Next, turn on the Pulse 3 again, as mentioned in step 1 above.  I.e. Press and release the Power button.

Now this time, after factory reset, our speaker comes up in BT pairing mode, as shown next. Note that the Power button blinks white  to denote this, as shown in the next picture. When it flashes or is dark, the Pulse 3 is not currently synced. indeed, we expect it not to pair to anything after a factory reset.

Picture of the glowing Pairing Status light on the JBL Pulse 3 speaker.
The JBL Pulse 3 speaker Pairing Status lamp glowing.

A factory reset also reverts the selected color lightshow pattern back to default… a sort of rising horizontal color bar pattern.

5. Done with JBL Pulse 3 Factory Reset !

The factory reset is now done. You may now pack it up for sale, or pair it again with your favorite Bluetooth devices. The Pulse will no longer automatically link with any previously connected source BT device that is in range. So to restore auto pairing, manually link the Pulse 3 with a device. Then after that, any time that both speaker and that very device have Bluetooth turned on and are in range of one another, pairing with automatically occur again.

Other Posts About the JBL Pulse 3

  1. Firmware Update Instructions for the JBL Pulse 3 Bluetooth Speaker

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References for JBL Pulse 3 Factory Reset

  1. JBL Pulse 3 Bluetooth Speaker Official Product Page at JBL.com

Revision History

  • 2021-10-06: First published.