Short answer
4 steps- Charge the speaker and move it within a few feet of your phone.
- Forget the speaker in your Bluetooth settings, then pair it again.
- Make sure the speaker is the selected audio output and its own volume is up.
- Reset the speaker using the button combination in its manual.
It won’t pair
- Charge it. Many speakers refuse to pair or drop out on a low battery.
- Put it in pairing mode. Usually a long press on the Bluetooth button until the light flashes. Turning it on isn’t always enough.
- Disconnect it from other devices. A speaker paired to a laptop or a partner’s phone often reconnects to that first. Turn Bluetooth off on the other device.
- Forget and re-pair. Remove the speaker from your phone’s Bluetooth list, restart the phone and pair again.
- Reset the speaker. Most brands have a button combination that clears the pairing list, such as holding power and volume together. Check the manual or the maker’s app for yours.
It’s connected but there’s no sound
- Raise the volume on both the phone and the speaker; they’re separate.
- Check the output. On iPhone, open Control Center and tap the AirPlay icon on the music card. On Android, tap the output button in the media panel. On Windows, use Settings > System > Sound > Output. On Mac, use System Settings > Sound > Output.
- On a computer, check the speaker is listed as a headset or hands-free device. Pick the one called stereo or headphones, since hands-free mode sounds terrible or stays silent.
- Play our left/right test. If you hear it, the speaker works and the problem is the app you were using.
It keeps cutting out
Bluetooth has a practical range of roughly 30 feet indoors, less through walls or bodies. A phone in a back pocket blocks a surprising amount of signal. Move closer, keep a clear line of sight, and step away from Wi-Fi routers, microwaves and USB 3 hubs, which all crowd the same frequency band. Unpair devices you aren’t using, and update the speaker’s firmware through its app if it has one.
It sounds distorted or crackly
Turn the phone volume to about 80% and raise the speaker’s own volume instead; feeding a maxed-out signal into the speaker makes it clip. Turn off any bass boost or equalizer. If it crackles at the same pitch every time, play the sweep test and see speaker crackling for what that means.
It sounds muffled after getting wet
Water sitting behind the grille dulls the sound even on waterproof speakers. Follow how to dry a wet Bluetooth speaker.
It won’t turn on or charge
Try a different cable and a wall charger, and leave it charging for at least an hour; deeply drained batteries can take a while to show a light. Check the port for lint or corrosion. If nothing works, the battery has likely failed. That’s worth a warranty claim if the speaker is under a year or two old.