How to Print Documents From Your IPhone
Did you know you can send documents to a printer directly from your iPhone? I didn’t until I became frustrated with having to print one page and started looking for answers. It turns out that this is very simple, since all iPhones come with AirPrint. You can do this without AirPrint, but we’ll get to that later.
How to Print with Apple AirPrint
Not all printers support AirPrint, but yours most likely does. To be sure, Google the specific make and model or contact the manufacturer. If your printer supports this feature, first make sure it’s connected to the same Wi-Fi as your phone. Then follow these steps:
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Open whatever you want to print and, depending on what it is, click the Share button or the Actions button. They will look like arrows or three dots.
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In the Actions menu, find the Print option, then tap it.
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The Print Settings tab will open, where at the top you will see “Printer” and then “Printer not selected.” Clicking on the latter will take you to a page where you can select your printer. If the printer you need supports AirPrint and is connected to the same Wi-Fi, you will see it in the list.
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From here, do what you normally do when printing: choose how many copies you want, what pages you want to print, what the layout will be, etc.
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Click “Print” in the top right corner.
While the request is being processed, you can open the app switcher to access Print Center. You can go there to monitor the printing progress or cancel the job. It’s so easy and not much different from printing on a computer.
How to print without AirPrint
If your printer doesn’t support AirPrint, it’s not the end of the road. First, check to see if your printer has an app on the App Store. Some do, although you’ll need to do some in-app steps to set them up. For the most part, you’ll probably have to dive into Settings after downloading the app, tapping “Wi-Fi,” and finding your printer under “Other Networks.” You can print it by clicking the Share button on the document and selecting a printer there.
You can also connect your phone to the printer using a Lightning to USB cable and agree to the pop-up window that will appear on your phone. You’ll follow the same steps as AirPrint by clicking Share and Print. The printer you are connected to should appear on the Printer Settings page.
It’s a little tedious, but not nearly as annoying as whipping out your laptop for a two-second job, or worse, going to your local print shop to email documents from your phone to a printer that costs a ton of money.