How to Connect a Printer to Your iPhone or iPad (AirPrint and Brand Apps)

To connect a printer to an iPhone, you don't pair them at all. Put the printer on the same Wi-Fi network as the iPhone, open what you want to print, tap Share (or the app's menu), choose Print, and pick the printer. Any printer that supports Apple AirPrint appears automatically, with no app or driver. Printers without AirPrint need the manufacturer's app instead.

The short version

1. Check that the printer supports AirPrint. Most wireless printers sold in the last decade do.
2. Connect the printer to your home Wi-Fi from its control panel or the manufacturer's app.
3. On the iPhone, open Settings › Wi-Fi and join the same network.
4. Open the photo, email or document, tap Share, then Print.
5. Tap the printer line, choose your printer, set copies and options, and tap Print.
6. Install the brand app only if you want to scan, check ink, or your printer lacks AirPrint.

Does my printer work with an iPhone?

AirPrint is Apple's built-in printing system for iPhone, iPad and Mac. The iPhone finds AirPrint printers on the local network, asks what they can do, and sends the page in a format the printer already understands. That is why there is nothing to install.

To check your model, look for Works with Apple AirPrint on the box or in the specifications on the manufacturer's site, or search Apple's list of AirPrint printers. Almost every current Wi-Fi model from HP, Canon, Epson, Brother, Lexmark and Xerox qualifies. The printers that usually don't are:

• USB-only printers with no Wi-Fi or Ethernet port.
• Very old wireless models from before AirPrint became standard.
• Most pocket photo printers and small Bluetooth label printers, which use their own apps.

If you are still choosing a printer for an Apple household, our best wireless printer for Mac and iPhone guide covers the models that behave best.

Step 1: Put the printer on the same Wi-Fi network

The iPhone doesn't set up the printer's Wi-Fi for you in most cases, so this happens on the printer or in its app first.

• Printers with a screen: run the Wireless Setup Wizard (the name varies; look under Settings, Network or Wi-Fi Setup), pick your network and enter the password.
• Printers without a screen: use the brand app, which walks you through it. Many recent HP models use Bluetooth during setup, so allow Bluetooth when the app asks. A WPS button on the router is another option.
• Allow Local Network access: the first time a printer app runs, iOS asks whether it can find and connect to devices on your local network. Tap Allow, or the app will never see the printer.

Then confirm both devices are really on the same network. Compare the name in the iPhone's Settings › Wi-Fi with the name on the printer's network status page. Guest networks and VPNs stop the two from seeing each other. If the printer won't join your router at all, our wireless printer setup guide covers every brand, and our US router guide covers Xfinity, Spectrum, AT&T, Fios and T-Mobile gateways that merge the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

How to print from an iPhone with AirPrint

1. Open the app you want to print from, such as Photos, Safari, Mail, Files, Notes, Pages or Microsoft Word.
2. Tap the Share button (a square with an arrow). In some apps, Print sits in a different menu: in Mail, tap the reply arrow; in Gmail and Word, tap the three dots or the More menu.
3. Scroll down and tap Print. Not every app supports printing; if yours doesn't, save the item to Files or Photos and print it from there.
4. Tap No Printer Selected (or the current printer's name) and choose your printer. The list fills within a few seconds.
5. Set the number of copies, page range, black and white, double-sided and paper size. The options shown depend on the printer and the app.
6. Tap Print in the upper-right corner.

To check or cancel a job, open the App Switcher and tap Print Center, then select the job and tap Cancel Printing. The iPhone remembers the last printer you used, so next time you can go straight to Print.

A few habits save paper. In Photos, select several pictures before tapping Share to print them in one job. In Safari, printing a long article prints every page, so set the page range first. If a photo prints on letter paper when you wanted 4x6, change the paper size in the options; not every printer reports its photo tray correctly.

Printing from an iPad

An iPad uses the same AirPrint steps, but a few things differ:

• Keyboard shortcut. With a Magic Keyboard or other keyboard attached, Command-P opens the print options in many apps, including Safari, Mail, Pages and Word.
• Menu bar. On iPadOS 26, apps that support the new menu bar show File › Print when you swipe down from the top of the screen or move the pointer there.
• Multiple windows. In Split View or Stage Manager, the Share button prints from the window you tapped, so make sure the right document is active.
• Cellular iPads. AirPrint only works over Wi-Fi or a wired network, so a cellular iPad must be on the same Wi-Fi as the printer. Printing over mobile data only works through a brand's cloud service, such as HP's Print Anywhere or Epson Connect.
• School and work iPads. Managed iPads can have printers added, or blocked, by the organization. If the printer list is empty on a managed iPad but fine on your iPhone, ask the administrator.

PDFs marked up with Apple Pencil in Files or Notes print with the markup included, which makes the iPad handy for signing and returning forms.

When should I use the brand app instead?

AirPrint covers printing. The manufacturer's app adds setup, scanning and maintenance, and it is the only way to print to a wireless printer that lacks AirPrint.

Scanning is the main reason to install one. AirPrint can't send a scan from the printer to an iPhone, but the brand app can, and it saves scans as PDF or JPEG to Files or Photos. For a quick scan of a single page, the iPhone camera also works: in Notes or Files, choose Scan Documents.

If an app can't find a printer that AirPrint sees, the app is probably missing its permission. Open Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network and turn it on for that app. Our HP app page covers the most common setup problems with HP printers.

No router? Wi-Fi Direct and USB

Wi-Fi Direct

Most wireless printers can broadcast their own small network, usually named DIRECT- followed by letters and the model. Turn on Wi-Fi Direct from the printer's panel, then on the iPhone go to Settings › Wi-Fi, join that network with the password the printer shows, and print through Share › Print as normal. While connected, the iPhone uses cellular data for the internet, so switch back to your home Wi-Fi afterward. It is useful when the router is down, in an office where you can't join the main Wi-Fi, or when traveling. Our Wi-Fi Direct printing guide shows where each brand hides the setting.

USB cable

USB is the weakest option for an iPhone. Apple's AirPrint needs Wi-Fi or a wired network connection, and Apple says USB-only printers support driverless printing only from a Mac. A USB-C or Lightning adapter lets an iPhone use storage and keyboards, but most printers aren't recognized that way. A handful of models and brand apps have supported USB printing from iOS, so check the manufacturer's page for your exact model before buying an adapter.

If your printer is USB-only, the practical workaround is to plug it into a Mac and turn on printer sharing, which often lets iPhones and iPads on the same network print to it while the Mac is awake. Our guide to connecting a printer to a Mac covers the USB side.

Bluetooth portable and label printers

Pocket photo printers such as the HP Sprocket, Kodak Step, Polaroid Hi-Print and Fujifilm Instax Link, and many small label makers from Phomemo and NIIMBOT, connect over Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi. They don't appear in Share › Print. Instead:

1. Install the printer's own app and allow Bluetooth access when asked.
2. Turn the printer on and pair it from inside the app. Most don't need pairing in Settings › Bluetooth, and some won't work if you pair them there.
3. Print from the app, or share a photo to the app from Photos.

Larger label printers, such as the Brother QL-820NWB, offer Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth and work with their brand apps from an iPhone. For travel-friendly options, see our best portable printer guide.

What if my iPhone can't find the printer?

If No AirPrint Printers Found appears, work through these checks before anything else:

• Wake the printer by pressing a button on its panel, then try again after 30 seconds.
• Confirm the iPhone and printer are on the same network name, and neither is on guest Wi-Fi.
• Turn off any VPN on the iPhone.
• Restart the printer and the iPhone.

Our No AirPrint Printers Found guide goes through the full list, including router isolation, mesh networks and printer sleep settings. For Android phones and Chromebooks in the same household, our guide to printing from any phone covers the other platforms.

If you would rather have someone walk through it with you, our independent remote printer support plan covers iPhone and iPad printing along with every printer in your home.