JBL Boombox 3 Wi‑Fi

The JBL Boombox 3 Wi-Fi is a large portable speaker with a carrying handle, a substantial battery and IP67 protection against dust and water, in the version that adds Wi-Fi and AirPlay 2 to the usual Bluetooth.

The Wi-Fi is the reason it is in this directory. Bluetooth speakers cannot join a multi-room group; a Wi-Fi speaker can, so the same speaker that goes to the beach also plays in sync with the HomePods indoors.

What Apple Home actually does with it

This is an AirPlay 2 speaker rather than a HomeKit accessory.

• It appears in the Home app as a speaker you can play to, and as an AirPlay target in Control Centre.
• You can assign it to a room and group it with HomePods for synchronised multi-room audio.
• Siri can send music to it by room name.
• It can be the audio output in a scene or an automation.

You cannot switch it on or set its volume from the Home app the way you would a light. Those stay with the speaker itself and its own app.

When it is out of Wi-Fi range it falls back to Bluetooth, and Apple Home cannot see it.

Before you buy

It is heavy. The Boombox is portable in the sense that it has a handle, not in the sense that you will carry it far.

IP67 means it survives immersion, which matters more than splash resistance for a speaker taken to a pool or a beach.

The JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi is the much smaller alternative.

Specifications