How to Print From Your iPhone or iPad

If you need to print from your iPhone or iPad, Apple's AirPrint utility is the easiest option. However, there are other ways to print from your mobile device.

(Credit: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock)

Dealing with printers is never fun. Connecting a wireless printer to your computer is hard enough, but what if you're using an iPhone or iPad? The simplest method is to print through Apple's AirPrint, which supports a wide range of devices. However, if your printer is incompatible with this method, the process becomes a bit more complicated.

If you find that AirPrint doesn't work with your setup, you may be able to use an app from the printer's manufacturer. Otherwise, a cloud printing service should do the trick. Here's how to connect a printer to your iPhone or iPad, and then successfully print a document or photo.


How to Print With AirPrint

Apple AirPrint has been around since 2010, so it’s become a standard in the printing world. Apple has a long list of supported devices. If your printer is listed, your first step is to connect it to your network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Consult your printer's documentation for specific instructions on how to do this.

Once your printer is connected to your network, printing should be easy. Just open the document, photo, or web page you want to print. Tap the Share icon and then select the Print option to display a dialogue box. Your default printer may show up in the Printer field. If it doesn't, tap the field and select the printer you wish to use.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)

Return to the Print Options screen, where you can change presets for frequently-used settings, such as the number of copies you need, the exact pages you want printed, the size of the paper, the printout's orientation, and the size of the document's text.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)

Tap Media & Quality to change which tray your printer will use for printing (if it has more than one), as well as the type of paper you'll use for printing. Choose Layout to determine how many pages of your printout appear on one printed page. You can also add a border and flip the pages horizontally.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)

When ready, tap the Print button in the top right of the screen. Since the printout is being generated from your mobile device, the print job may take longer than it normally would through a computer. To view or cancel the printing while the print job is running, open the App Switcher by swiping up from the bottom of the screen or double pressing the Home button if your iPhone or iPad has one.

Tap the Print Center thumbnail and select the print job. You'll see various details relating to the job, including the name of the document and printer, the settings you selected, when the job was started, and how many pages have been printed already. If you need to stop the job before it's complete, tap Cancel Printing to prevent any further pages from printing.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)

Manufacturer Printing Apps

Most printer manufacturers offer a free app that can be used to print. HP offers HP Smart, Canon has Canon PRINT, Epson provides Epson iPrint, and Brother supports Brother iPrint&Scan. To show how this process works, we'll use HP Smart as an example.

When you first open the HP Smart app, a Welcome screen explains that certain data is collected from your mobile device. Tap the Accept All button to continue or choose the Manage Options link to prevent specific types of data from being collected.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / HP)

At the next screen, tap the Set up or add printer button and allow the app to connect to devices on your local network.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / HP)

Choose New printer to set up a brand new printer or Already connected to network to use a printer that's already on your local network. Select the printer you want to use.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / HP)

For HP printers, all important information and commands are available from one screen. You can see the printer's ink levels and also choose Print Photos or Print Documents to start printing. The first time you make a choice, you're prompted to sign in or create an account with HP.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / HP)

When you're ready to print something, tap the View & Print icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap All Files to select the file you wish to print. Tap Albums to select a photo. You can also connect directly to your cloud storage accounts for Dropbox, Google Photos, Google Drive, Box, and others by tapping each icon.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / HP)

After you select the file you want to print, tap Print Preview to view it. From this window, tap Print to finally send the file to your printer.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / HP)

Cloud Printing Apps

Another way to print from your iPhone or iPad is to go through a cloud-based printer app or service. Google Cloud Print used to be a handy method to use here, but Google ended support for the service in 2021. Fortunately, there are alternatives you can try

ezeep Blue

With the free ezeep Blue app, you can print from your iPhone or iPad via the cloud. Set up an account on the ezeep website to get started, then sign in on the app. At the main screen, tap the Print button, then choose what you want to print.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / ezeep Blue)

Select Files to choose an existing file on your device, Photos to find a photo from your library, or Document to scan a document. You can then choose the individual item you wish to print. From here, hit the Select a printer button to choose the network printer you want to use, then tap Done.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / ezeep Blue)

At the Printer screen, you can choose how many copies to print, whether the printout is double-sided, paper size, orientation, and overall print quality. Tap the Print button to print your file.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / ezeep Blue)

Cloud Ready Printer

Cloud Ready Printer makes cloud printing quick and simple. The free version saddles you with ads; you'll have to shell out $2.99 to make them go away. After launching the app the first time, you're prompted to sign in with a Google account. To add a printer, tap the Printers icon, select the Search button to display your local networked printers, and then add the printer you wish to use.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Cloud Ready Printer)

Back at the main screen, tap the Print icon and then select the type of content you want to print, such as Photo, Document, or Browser. Choose your source file and tweak your print settings to determine which pages to print, the paper size, and the page orientation. When ready, tap Print to print your file.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Cloud Ready Printer)

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About Lance Whitney