How To Easily Print From Android Tablet Or Phone

It is possible to print directly from an Android tablet or phone to a wireless printer but there are some drawbacks.

Before Android tablets (or phones) can be considered as a PC/laptop replacement, rather than just an additional device, they must be able to perform the basic tasks that traditional computers excel in – and that includes printing.

It is still more difficult to print from an Android tablet or phone than from even the cheapest PC or laptop – not all printing options may be available and a lot depends on which printer you have, but it is possible to print directly. There are several ways to do it in Android devices:

Print From Android Using The Manufacturer’s App

You may be able to print directly from your Android tablet or phone to a wireless printer by using an app from your manufacturer – most provide free apps to enable printing and/or scanning although the functionality and ease of use varies considerably from near perfect to almost worthless…

Note: each app may support only a limited range of printers – check the download page to see if yours is supported.

Epson iPrint – Free. Print to nearby wireless Epson printers. Photos, emails, webpages and PDF files. Access and print your files from Box, Dropbox, Evernote and Google Drive. You can also scan and save your files or send them in an e-mail. Ratings – 4.1 stars and good reviews. Available here.

Canon Print – Free. Does photos and documents, scans from your Android tablet or phone on a compatible PIXMA, MAXIFY or SELPHY multifunction printer via a local wireless network. Ratings – 3.8 stars and very mixed reviews, mostly people complaining it doesn’t work. Available here.

HP Print Service Plugin – Free. Wirelessly print most digital content to most HP printers including OfficeJet, LaserJet, DesignJet, Photosmart, DeskJet and Envy. Mobile printing of most digital content (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, photos, PDF and text files). Ratings – 4.4 stars and good reviews. Available here.

Lexmark Mobile Printing – Free. Documents and photos from your mobile device on supported wireless Lexmark printers and multifunction devices. Ratings – 2.4 stars and very poor reviews, only supports a limited range of printers. Available here.

Samsung MobilePrint – Free. Photos, documents, PDF and web pages directly from your Android phone and tablet. The application also enables scanning documents to your mobile device directly. Wireless or Wired network connection required but supports Shared Printers connected with PC via USB. Ratings – 4.0 stars and good reviews. Available here.

Brother iPrint&Scan – Free. Photos, PDF, webpages, documents and scan to your Android device. Use your local wireless network to connect your Android device to your Brother printer or All-in-one. Ratings – 3.9 stars and fairly good reviews. Available here.

Print From Android Using Google Cloud Print

Be prepared to do some reading to get this up and running… I suggest reading Google’s support page here.

Using it you can make your printer(s) available to you from any Google Cloud Print enabled web, desktop or mobile app. Google Cloud Print can work directly with Cloud ready printers (not all are) but also to standard (classic) printers that are wirelessly connected to a Windows or Mac computer with internet access.

For classic (local) printers, you will need to have installed Google Chrome on your PC/Mac that has the connected printer you want to use. Then enable the Google Cloud Print connector in Chrome to associate the printer with your Google Account and connect it to Google Cloud Print.

To print from Cloud Print on your Android tablet you can use the built-in support available in Gmail or Google Docs.

Alternatively, the PrintAway app (formerly Cloud Print Plus) available here allows you to use your printer using Google Cloud Print – and comes with an internal file browser with support for PDF files, photos, Word docs, Spreadsheets and Powerpoint files.

The main features of the highly rated (4.4 stars) PrintAway app are:

– Share printers with friends
– mail and sms printing
– print job management
– internal file browser
– webpage printing
– printer managment ( Printer options )
– Print from clipboard

For Cloud Print ready printers or HP E-Print enabled printers you don’t need your PC/Mac to be on, but for all other ‘classic’ printers your PC/Mac needs to be ON for you to print from Android.

If your printer can’t be reached at the time you submit your job (e.g. the computer running the Google Cloud Print connector is turned off, or your Cloud Ready printer is disconnected), your job will wait in the queue in the Cloud. Your printer will download and finish the job normally as soon as it comes back online.

Other Alternatives

Of course if you are only printing very rarely you could go the manual route and just sync your Android tablet or phone with your PC/laptop, copy the documents/photos over to it and go from there.

Or even the kludge of emailing the file to yourself, receiving the email on your computer and then printing the attachment from there…

Neither are great options but, for a one off print, they’ll do the job.

Conclusion

Apps from printer manufacturers vary considerably but may be worth trying (if you have a supported printer) – to avoid possible frustration, double check the requirements and features carefully.

Using Google Cloud Print is another useful way to print from Android tablets and phones but, unless you have a supported Cloud printer, it can be frustrating to have to turn on your PC before printing from your Android device can begin – it would be much better if it could send directly to the printer rather than via another computer.

5 thoughts on “How To Easily Print From Android Tablet Or Phone”

  1. I set up my old but trusted HP LJ1100 as a LAN printer using a cheap wifi router from ASUS that has a USB port and I used a USB>LPT converter. The ASUS router connects to my main LAN and ADSL router. It works like a charm. XP and openSuse boxes have no trouble printing wirelessly. On XP the printer is installed as the default for the entire OS, not just Chrome or gMail.

    Everyone here uses the Chrome browser so cloud print is also available if needed. We are very happy to have an independent wifi LAN printer.

    We have Android tablets and phones and I am just trying to find the best print solution: print via the cloud or go for a direct LAN print. Any advice would be welcome.

  2. Can’t install Google’s cloud print service without first installing their POS Chrome browser because they block downloading of the install kit from every other browser – guess that’s another example of their “don’t be evil” mantra – like the government they just want to force you to take what they “know” you need even if YOU know you don’t

  3. One of the drawbacks to Google cloud print is that, as you mentioned, the printer has to be connected with the computer. What isn’t properly addressed or emphasized in any of the tutorial websites is that the printer needs to be LOCALLY connected with that computer. You cannot connect to a network printer with Google cloud print. This makes it rather difficult to print from a tablet or android phone from your home or office network if the only printer is connected via a pre-existing network.

    • @Lancer – good point, Cloud Print does require a local printer (usually means USB).

      I wrote ‘connected to’ – by this I meant a local (usually USB) printer but I agree it’s not totally clear so I’ll amend the article. To be fair to Google, their Support page I linked to states “printers that are plugged into…a computer” which does rule out a network printer, although it would be good if they made it even more obvious and said so!

  4. of course there is also the third party app solution especially if you have an older printer like i do
    print n share is pretty good on my iPhone, or Print for Android (same company I think) ;)

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