JBL Speaker Hacks

The JBL Speaker has several buttons and lights across its top and side panels. And by pressing one or more of these together, you can activate the JBL Speaker Hacks. We further show where to find them, with pictures. Then we give some of these codes, and describe when to press them.

JBL Speaker Hacks: Details About Each One

Combinations and Codes

All Lights ON Hack

Entering the All Lights ON mode appears to power down the speaker, since it makes the falling guitar sound. It also clears the Bluetooth source devices from memory. This means that you’ll have to re-pair the speaker to the device(s) you want when you activate this mode.

When this mode is active, the Power and Bluetooth buttons light, along with the oval ring around those buttons. And, these lights stay on until you power down the speaker.

Picture of all lights on the button panel aglow. — All lights on the button panel glowing.

To Turn ON All Lights ON Mode

To enter this mode, press the Play-Pause and Volume DOWN buttons. Hold in for around ten seconds. Then release them when the lights on the control panel go dark.

Picture of the -Play-Pause- and -Volume DOWN- buttons on the JBL Speaker. — The -Play-Pause- and -Volume DOWN- buttons on the JBL Speaker.

To Turn OFF All Lights ON Mode

To get out of this All Lights ON mode, you have two options.

You can press the PartyBoost button twice with about a second between each press. This enters PartyBoost mode. Then this also takes it back out of that mode. And it turns off All Lights On mode in the process.
Or you can reset the 6 by pressing the Play-Pause and Volume UP buttons. Hold them in until the 6 powers down. At this point, reset is complete. And so, the next time you boot the speaker, the panel lamps will go back to their original states. Thus All Lights ON mode will be inactive once more.

Reset Combo Hack

You can reset the JBL Speaker by pressing the Volume UP and Play / Pause buttons. Hold them in until the lights go dark.

Picture of the -Play-Pause- and -Volume Up- buttons. — The -Play-Pause- and -Volume Up- buttons.

Service Only Mode Hack

When in this (sometimes called ‘weird’) mode, the JBL Speaker does not power on unless you connect the charger. And then, it powers up without you pressing the Power button. Further, you cannot turn it off unless you disconnect the charger. And then, it powers off without pressing the Power button.

Also, none of the buttons seem to work when the speaker is in this mode. E.g. You can’t activate pairing mode. So it won’t pair with any devices.

To Activate Service Only Mode

To turn on this mode on the 6, press the Bluetooth and Play-Pause buttons at the same time. Hold them in until the speaker powers OFF. This takes ten seconds or so. Note that you can enter this mode as long as the speaker is ON. Also it doesn’t matter whether you connect the charger or not.

Picture of the -Play-Pause- and -Bluetooth- buttons on the JBL Speaker. — The -Play-Pause- and -Bluetooth- buttons on the JBL Speaker.

To Deactivate Service Only Mode

But once you activate Service Only, then to turn it off, connect the charger. Why? Because the unit won’t come on without external power. And, you can’t change modes without powering it up first.

So, with the speaker on the charger, and the Power button glowing, press the Bluetooth and Play-Pause button combination. Then hold that in for ten seconds or so, until the unit powers off. The normal speaker operation returns thereafter. Afterwards, you can disconnect the charger and turn on the speaker and play it as normal.

Firmware Version Voice Announcement Hack

When the speaker is running, you can hear what firmware version it is currently hosting. Press the Volume DOWN and Party Connect buttons.

Picture of the -Volume DOWN- and -Party Boost -buttons. — The -Volume DOWN- and -Party Boost -buttons.

Hold them in until you hear a female voice announce the firmware version in a sequence of four digits. For instance, when we did this, our speaker said, “0 5 2 0”.

Force Abort

Sometimes the speaker may enter a “hosed” state where none of the buttons respond. So you can make it abort whatever it’s doing, and shut down.

Picture of the -Power- and -Play-Pause- buttons on the JBL Speaker. — The -Power- and -Play-Pause- buttons on the JBL Speaker.

To force abort the speaker, press the Power and Play-Pause buttons. Then hold them in until the speaker shuts off. Then try powering on the speaker once more. Finally the locked-up symptoms will likely disappear.