I have been using my JLab earbuds without any problem for the last seven months. I was really impressed by the sound quality, considering the price point at which it was available.
But, a couple of days back, my JLab earbuds won’t turn on suddenly. I thought the battery might have died and put the earbuds for charging. Surprisingly, even after charging the earbuds for nearly 45 minutes, there were no signs of life!
After hours of research and talking to a customer support executive, I found out why my JLab earbuds didn’t turn on and fixed it.
I managed to fix my JLabs earbuds by following method #2!
If your JLab earbuds do not turn on, follow the steps below to fix it right away.
How To Fix JLab Earbuds Won’t Turn On?
To fix a JLab earbuds that won’t turn on, charge the earbuds case for at least 2 to 3 hours. Open the lid of the charging case, place your finger on top of the touchpad, and take the earbuds out. (Do not lift your finger yet) Place the earbuds in your ears with your finger on the touchpad. The earbuds will turn on now.
Force Turn On The Earbuds
Like many other earbuds out on the market, one could manually turn on or off JLab earbuds. You might have accidentally turned off the earbuds.
If you manually turn off the earbuds and put them in the ears after taking them out from the charging case, they won’t turn on.
Turning on the earbuds manually is simple, but the steps may differ slightly depending on the model.
Follow the steps below to turn on the earbuds manually.
Open the charging case and put both earbuds in your ear.
Now tap and hold the touchpad for three seconds or more. A ” Hello ” voice prompt will confirm the earbuds are turned on.
You have successfully turned on the JLab earbuds.
If you want to turn off the earbuds, tap and hold the touchpad for three seconds or more, and the voice prompt “Goodbye” should confirm the earbuds are turned off.
The option to turn on and off the individual earbuds helps people save battery if they use only one earbud.
Fix The Glitch
If tapping and holding the touchpad on both earbuds for a couple of seconds didn’t help you turn on JLab earbuds, there is a nifty little trick that has helped many people fix the JLab earbuds won’t turn on problem.
Put the JLab earbuds case for charging for at least 3 to 4 hours. Just connect the built-in USB cable to a power brick and leave it for a couple of hours.
Once fully charged, open the lid of the charging case.
Now tap and hold the touchpad of the earbud and, at the same time, take it out from the case. Do not lift your finger from the touchpad yet.
Put the earbuds in your ear, and the earbuds should turn on. (Put the earbuds in your ear while keeping the finger on top of the touchpad)
I was surprised to see the number of people who have managed to fix the problem by following the steps above. It is the one that worked for me as well.
It is still unknown why this method works. It may be a bug.
Peel Off The Plastic Film
Is your JLab earbuds not turning on right after purchasing them? If yes, the chances are you forgot to peel off the plastic film covering the charging contacts on the case.
The earbuds charge when the charging points on the earbuds come in contact with the charging contacts on the case.
Open your JLab earbuds charging case and look for a thin plastic film (pull tab) covering the top portion underneath the earbuds.
Peel off the plastic pull tab and put the earbuds back in place for charging.
Wait for at least 30 minutes before trying to use it.
Now that you have removed the plastic film, your JLab earbuds should turn on.
Did You Charge Your Earbuds?
I really did not want to include this section. But many people forget the significant point of charging the earbuds for some time.
Many people put the earbuds inside the charging case, wait for 45 minutes or more, and then try to use the earbuds. But the earbuds won’t turn on.
Many people forget to charge the earbuds charging case. If the battery on the charging case is dead, your earbuds won’t charge.
Before trying other troubleshooting steps, put your JLab earbuds case for charging for at least 2 hours with the earbuds inside.
Now tap and hold the touchpad on the earbuds for 3 seconds to turn it on.
Over time, the battery capacity of one side of the earbuds may drop significantly than the other. In such cases, you need to charge one side frequently otherwise one side of JLab earbuds won’t work.
Clean The Charging Contacts
If your JLab earbuds won’t turn on even after charging the case for many hours, dirt or dust particles may have accumulated on top of the charging contacts, making the earbuds unable to charge.
If you have been using your JLab earbuds for many months, the debris may be built-up on top of the charging contacts.
Grab a lint-free microfiber cleaning cloth or an ear bud and gently clean the charging contacts on both earbuds.
Similarly, clean the charging contacts on the case as well.
Once properly cleaned, put the earbuds inside the case and wait for 45 minutes.
Ensure the charging case has enough charge.
Do not use liquid cleaning solutions to clean the earbuds, as they can damage the internals.
Is The Charging Cable Damaged?
Are you sure your JLab earbuds case has enough charge?
As you may already know, the JLab earbuds case has a built-in USB cable for charging.
It won’t charge the case if the cable is damaged, faulty or frayed.
Closely examine the charging cable to see if any damage may be stopping the earbuds case from charging.
Similarly, if you connect the charging cable to a laptop to charge your earbuds, consider connecting it directly to a power brick of your smartphone or a power bank and see if it charges this time.
If your JLab earbuds don’t charge, try these troubleshooting steps.
Hardware Problem or Water Damage
If you have made it this far, your JLab earbuds may have some physical damage, like hardware problems or water damage.
Did you recently accidentally drop the earbuds or the charging case from a height or submerge the earbuds in water?
JLab earbuds are not waterproof. It only has IPX4 water assistance. The earbuds can only survive a few splashes of water and sweat.
If the earbuds get submerged, the earbuds will get faulty.
If charging the earbuds and the force turning on didn’t help fix the problem, it is probably a hardware problem. In this case, your only option is to contact JLab support.
Contact Support
If none of the troubleshooting steps above helped you fix JLab earbuds not turning on problem, the last thing to do is contact JLab support and ask help.
You may get in touch with JLab support using the phone number or email below.
Call: 00 44 20 8142 9361 or 1-405-445-7219
Mon – Thu: 8am – 4:30 PM (PST) and Friday: 8 PM – 2 PM (PST)
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Claim Warranty
Did you know your JLab earbuds come with a one or two-year limited warranty? Yes, you heard it right!
If it’s been less than a year since you purchased the JLab earbuds and it has no physical damage, but the earbuds won’t turn, you can claim a warranty and get the earbuds repaired or replaced for free.
You can refer to the warranty terms and conditions here.
Contact JLab support using the details above and tell them about the warranty to claim the same.
Do keep in mind that the warranty does not cover physical damages or water damages
What’s Next?
In most cases, your JLab earbuds won’t turn on because the charging case does not have enough charge left, you forgot to peel off the plastic film covering the charging contacts, or dirt or debris has accumulated on top of the charging contacts, making the earbuds unable to charge.
JLab earbuds not turning on after a few months is a widespread problem.
Let’s go through the steps to fix a JLab earbuds that won’t turn
- Force turn on the earbuds
- Fix the glitch
- Charge the earbuds
- Clean the charging contacts
- Ensure the charging cable is not damaged
- Contact support
Also, see what to do if your JLab earbuds does not connect.