How to Print From an Android Phone: Default Print Service, Mopria and Wi-Fi Direct (2026)

Android has printing built in. You do not need an app to print a document, a photo or a web page: you need a print service enabled, the printer on the same Wi-Fi, and the Print option in the share menu. The built-in default print service handles most printers made in the last decade. If it cannot see yours, install Mopria Print Service, and if that fails the problem is nearly always the network rather than the phone.

Quick fixes first

1. Put the phone and the printer on the same Wi-Fi network, not a guest network, and turn off any VPN.
2. Open Settings and search for Printing. Confirm Default Print Service is on.
3. Open a document, tap the three-dot menu or the share icon, tap Print, then tap the printer dropdown at the top.
4. If your printer is not listed, tap All printers and wait 20 seconds for discovery.
5. Still missing? Install Mopria Print Service from Google Play and enable it under Settings › Printing.
6. As a last resort, add the printer by IP address inside the print service, using the address from the printer's network configuration page.

How Android printing actually works

Android does not print from apps directly. Every app hands the document to a system print framework, which passes it to whichever print service you have enabled. A print service is a small plugin that knows how to find printers and speak their language.

There are three kinds:

• Default Print Service. Built into Android, based on IPP Everywhere. It discovers printers on your network automatically and needs no setup. This handles the large majority of printers sold since roughly 2015.
• Mopria Print Service. A free service from the Mopria Alliance, the industry body whose standard the built-in service is derived from. It discovers a slightly wider set of printers and exposes more options such as duplex and paper source. On many phones it is preinstalled.
• Brand plugins and apps. HP, Canon, Epson, Brother and others publish their own services or apps. These add scanning, ink levels, cartridge ordering and setup, and are the only route for a few older or unusual models.

Samsung, Google Pixel and most other manufacturers ship the default service enabled. Some budget and regional builds ship with no service at all, which is why the Print option can appear to do nothing until you install Mopria.

Fix 1: Turn the print service on

1. Open Settings and use the search box for Printing. The location varies: on Pixel it is under Connected devices › Connection preferences › Printing; on Samsung it is under Connections › More connection settings › Printing.
2. Tap Default Print Service and make sure the toggle is on.
3. Tap the service to see the printers it has found. If yours appears here, printing will work.
4. If the list is empty, tap the three-dot menu and choose Add printer.

Fix 2: Print something

The Print option lives in different places depending on the app:

• Chrome: three-dot menu › Share › Print.
• Gmail: open the message, three-dot menu › Print.
• Google Photos: share icon › Print, or the three-dot menu depending on version.
• Google Docs, Sheets and Slides: three-dot menu › Share & export › Print.
• Files or My Files: long-press the PDF, share icon › Print.

In the print preview, tap the printer name at the top to change printer, then the downward arrow to open copies, paper size, orientation, colour and two-sided options. Not every printer exposes every option through the default service; Mopria generally exposes more.

Fix 3: When the printer is not found

Work through these in order; they are ordered by how often they are the cause.

1. Same network. Check the Wi-Fi name on the phone against the one on the printer's network configuration page. A phone on a guest network cannot see the printer, because guest networks isolate clients from each other deliberately.
2. VPN off. A VPN routes the phone's traffic away from the local network and breaks discovery. Turn it off while printing.
3. Private DNS and battery saver. Aggressive battery optimisation can suspend the print service. Exclude Mopria or the brand app from battery optimisation in Settings › Apps.
4. Band mismatch. Printers on 2.4 GHz and phones on 5 GHz normally still see each other, but some mesh and ISP setups isolate the bands. Test with the phone temporarily on 2.4 GHz.
5. Add by IP. In the print service, choose Add printer and enter the printer's IP address directly. This bypasses discovery entirely and is the most reliable fix.
6. Printer asleep. Some printers stop answering discovery in deep sleep. Press a button on the panel and try again, and lengthen the sleep timer in the printer's settings.

Our printer not found on Wi-Fi guide covers the network side in more depth, including router settings that block discovery.

Brand apps: what they add

For plain printing, none of these are required. Install one when you want to scan to the phone, check supplies, or run maintenance such as a nozzle check without walking to the printer. Mopria Print Service stays the best universal option.

Printing without a router: Wi-Fi Direct

Wi-Fi Direct lets the phone connect straight to the printer. It is useful at a holiday let, in a garage office with no signal, or to prove the printer's radio works when nothing else can find it.

1. On the printer, enable Wi-Fi Direct from the network menu and note the network name and password shown.
2. On the phone, open Settings › Wi-Fi and join that network. The name usually starts with DIRECT.
3. Print as normal. The printer will appear in the print service.
4. Accept that the phone has no internet while connected, and rejoin your home Wi-Fi afterwards.

Full details, including where each brand hides the password, are in our Wi-Fi Direct printing guide.

Scanning to an Android phone

The print framework does not scan. To scan you need the brand app, and the printer must support scan-to-mobile. In the app, choose Scan, pick flatbed or ADF, and the scan arrives on the phone as a JPEG or PDF. If the app finds the printer for printing but not scanning, the phone usually needs the app's local network permission granted, and the printer's web services or scan-to-cloud feature enabled.

Cloud printing in 2026

Google Cloud Print was retired years ago and is not coming back. The current equivalents are per-brand cloud services such as HP ePrint and Epson Connect, which give the printer an email address you can send documents to from anywhere. They are convenient for printing to a home printer while away, but they route documents through the manufacturer's servers, so avoid them for anything confidential. For everyday use on the same network, the default print service is faster and more private.

If nothing worked

Prove where the fault is. If a laptop on the same network prints fine, the printer is healthy and the problem is on the phone: reset the print service, clear the Mopria app's storage under Settings › Apps, or add the printer by IP. If nothing on the network can print, the printer has lost its Wi-Fi connection and our printer will not connect to Wi-Fi guide is the right starting point.

Hardware failure is rarely the cause of an Android printing problem, so paying a technician to look at the printer is usually premature; a bench assessment costs roughly 60 to 120 US dollars or 50 to 100 pounds and will normally find nothing wrong. If discovery keeps failing and you suspect the router is at fault, you can get help from a printer specialist who can check the network isolation and discovery settings with you.