For many, Bluetooth speakers have become essential entertainment accessories, whether at home or outside.
As commercially available Bluetooth speakers have improved over the years, it has become possible to use them at home for high-fidelity audio, with some even replacing their bookshelf speakers with high-quality Bluetooth speakers. On the other hand, the portable nature of these speakers allows users to carry them to different places, inviting use in parties, outdoor locations, and vehicles.
While the utility of Bluetooth speakers is beyond question, users might run into certain problems while using them. If your Bluetooth speaker keeps turning off, it can put a damper on your entertainment plans.
This can happen due to many reasons and you do not always have to run to the manufacturer for a solution. It’s possible to rule out many possible reasons on your own by performing a few DIY steps which can help you solve the problem.
Read on to know exactly what to do if your Bluetooth speaker keeps turning off. As you will see going forward, this can happen due to two main reasons – an issue with the speaker itself, and an issue with the device you are broadcasting audio from. You need to troubleshoot both ends to arrive at the root of the problem.
Check on the Bluetooth Speaker Itself
Here are some ways to troubleshoot your Bluetooth speaker and ascertain if the issue is due to the speaker itself.
Check the Battery
The first thing that can cause your Bluetooth speaker to keep turning off is a depleted battery. After it happens a few times during use, the first thing you need to do is check the battery level.
Forgive us if this is obvious — but we want to start with the basics!
To do this, turn on the speaker by holding down the power button and wait for it to connect to your device of choice. Once the connection is complete, you should be able to check the current battery level.
This can be done either by:
- Accessing the Bluetooth settings on your device and going to a list of active Bluetooth devices, then checking the battery level next to your device name, or
- Checking the dedicated app or software of your speaker if it came with a bundled one.
You should be able to do this on all device platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. If the battery level is below 10%, your speaker might be turning off due to a mechanism to prevent the integrated battery from depleting completely.
The solution is easy – just connect a charging cable to your speaker and charge it completely. Make sure to charge your speaker regularly to ensure that the battery does not drop below that minimum threshold.
If you aren’t able to turn your device on, at all, this is an indication that the battery level is approaching zero. In this case, fully charging the device should resolve the issue.
Check the Range
If your Bluetooth speaker loses the signal or goes out of range during playback, it can stop working and turn off.
It is vital to maintain a quality connection between the streaming device and the Bluetooth speaker. Since Bluetooth is a standard that does not have the kind of range of other protocols like Wi-Fi, you need to take care of this.
Once your Bluetooth speaker turns off, immediately turn it back on, wait for it to connect to your device, and check the signal strength. If your speaker came with a bundled app, you should be able to check the signal strength from there. If not, there are many freeware apps for multiple platforms that will allow you to check the signal strength.
If you find the signal strength lacking, simply move your Bluetooth speaker closer to your audio streaming source.
Another good idea is to check for physical barriers and interference, both of which can affect the quality of your Bluetooth connection. If there are physical barriers between your speaker and your source device that are affecting the line of sight, remove them or reposition your speaker. Similarly, if there are other active Bluetooth devices in the area, temporarily turn them off and see if this takes care of the problem.
Check the Settings
Many Bluetooth speakers come with an integrated auto-standby option which causes them to turn off after a set time, in order to preserve the battery. This might be the cause why your Bluetooth speaker keeps turning off.
If your speaker comes with a companion app, this will be the right place to check for that setting. Look into the product manual to find the exact location of the setting and see if you can temporarily disable it. If this solves the issue, you can keep this setting turned off.
If there is no companion app and the speaker has this feature anyway, another idea is to physically turn your speaker on only when you intend to use it and keep it turned off at other times.
Firmware Update and Factory Reset
Buggy software can sometimes cause your Bluetooth speaker to malfunction and keep turning off. There are two ways to deal with this.
First, you can try and check if the manufacturer has put out a firmware update as a bug fix. Or, you can restore the speaker to its factory condition by using the factory reset feature.
First, check if there are any firmware updates you can install. This should be available in the dedicated app or software that comes with your Bluetooth speaker.
Here, go into the speaker settings and look for the firmware version. This is the likeliest place where you will find a firmware update. If one is available, opt to complete the update from the app. Take care not to turn your speaker off during the update and only run the update when your battery is fully charged.
If you do not find a firmware update, you can try a factory reset. The process of carrying out the factory reset will be different between different manufacturers and speaker models.
In most cases, this involves looking for a recessed reset switch on the body of the speaker or pressing and holding a combination of the physical buttons on the speaker.
Read your speaker manual to find the exact process applicable to your model and use the instructions to factory reset your speaker. Once done, pair the speaker with your source device and check to see if the problem has been resolved.
Check Your Connected Device
Certain issues with your connected device can also be the culprit if your Bluetooth speaker keeps turning off.
There is an easy way to determine whether the problem is the fault of your speaker or the connected device — try connecting your device to a different audio source.
If your speaker keeps turning off when playing music from your iPhone, try connecting the speaker to a buddy’s Android. Or see if you can connect to a laptop or computer.
Even if you don’t have another device handy, you can still try using a different audio source on the same device. For example, if your speaker keeps turning off when playing Spotify, give Pandora or Apple Music or Youtube a try.
Here are some other areas which you can look at.
Faulty Bluetooth Adapter
If you are using a physical Bluetooth adapter, check to see if that has developed a fault. Many cheap USB Bluetooth adapters do not last long and need to be replaced periodically.
Test by checking the operation of other Bluetooth devices while connected to the adapter and if most of them fail to operate properly, consider a replacement. If you are using a device with an integrated Bluetooth antenna, check if other Bluetooth accessories connect and work properly. If not, take the device to a service center.
Power Saving Setting
In modern computers, there is a setting buried under the driver details of your Bluetooth hardware that allows the operating system to power down the Bluetooth radio to save system power, especially when the device is running on a low battery. This setting can easily be the culprit if your Bluetooth speaker is frequently turning off.
In Windows, you can easily find the setting if you open up the device manager and locate your Bluetooth hardware.
Double-click on the Bluetooth adapter and navigate to the advanced settings page. Here, you will be able to see a checkbox that enables Windows being able to turn off the device to save power. This setting comes turned on out of the box when you install your operating system and will stay on by default unless you change it manually.
Uncheck the setting, apply the change and restart your computer. The next time you connect to your Bluetooth speaker, see if this has resolved the issue.
Faulty Driver
The Bluetooth driver for your hardware needs to be correct for your Bluetooth devices to function properly. If you are using Bluetooth hardware from a specific manufacturer, a good place to find the right drivers is the manufacturer’s website, where you can specify the model number of the hardware and check out the resources or download sections for the correct driver.
A salient idea is to uninstall the driver from the device manager and scan for hardware changes. Then, you can specify during the driver installation that you want Windows Update to search for the drivers. Windows will often install generic Bluetooth drivers by default, which might limit the functionality of your Bluetooth hardware and cause problems with connections.
Final Thoughts
While Bluetooth speakers are convenient and portable, a speaker that keeps turning off can seriously hamper your enjoyment of entertainment. These fixes can allow you to resolve the issue without having to resort to manufacturer support or replacing your speaker.
It’s not always a faulty speaker that causes the issue, and trying the above steps can help you identify and solve the exact problem.
The above steps will not be able to fix the problem in regards to why your dog wants to bark at you when you are taking a nap – sorry, that’s not a tech issue.