How to Print from Your Phone: iPhone, Android, Samsung and Chromebook to Any Wireless Printer

To print from your phone, open the document or photo, tap Share (iPhone) or the three-dot menu (Android), choose Print, and select your printer; any wireless printer on the same Wi-Fi network that supports AirPrint or Mopria shows up automatically with no app to install. Chromebooks print through Settings › Print and scan. Below are the exact steps for iPhone and iPad, Android and Samsung, and ChromeOS, plus the brand apps and what to do when the printer does not appear.

Quick steps by device

1. iPhone/iPad: open the item › Share icon › Print › tap Printer › choose yours › set copies and options › Print.
2. Android/Samsung: open the item › three-dot menu › Print (or Share › Print) › printer dropdown › choose yours › tap the print button.
3. Chromebook: press Ctrl+P › Destination › See more › pick the printer › Print.
4. Any phone, any brand: install the brand app and print from inside it if the built-in method fails.
5. Not listed? Confirm the phone and printer are on the same Wi-Fi, wake the printer, turn off any VPN.

How mobile printing works

Phones do not use printer drivers. They use a standard called IPP Everywhere, branded by Apple as AirPrint and by the Mopria Alliance as Mopria, which every HP, Canon, Epson and Brother wireless printer sold in the last decade supports. The phone finds the printer by a broadcast on the local network (Bonjour or mDNS), asks what paper sizes and options it has, and sends the page as a ready-made image or PDF. This is why the printer must be on the same network and the same subnet as the phone; guest networks, VPNs and some mesh "isolation" settings break the broadcast even though the internet works fine.

How to print from an iPhone or iPad (AirPrint)

1. Connect the iPhone to the same Wi-Fi as the printer. Open Settings › Wi-Fi and check the network name matches the one the printer joined.
2. Open the photo, email, web page, PDF or document. In Photos, Safari, Mail, Files, Notes and Pages tap the Share icon (square with an arrow). In some apps the print option is under the three dots instead.
3. Scroll down the share sheet and tap Print.
4. Tap Printer and choose your printer from the list. It appears within a few seconds if AirPrint is working.
5. Set copies, page range, colour or black and white, double-sided and paper size, then tap Print.

To print from Gmail on an iPhone, open the email, tap the three dots at the top right and choose Print, which opens the same AirPrint dialog. The first time an app prints, iOS asks for permission to find devices on your local network; tap Allow. If you tapped Don't Allow, turn it on in Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network. If the printer still does not show, see AirPrint no printers found.

How to print from an Android phone (including Samsung)

1. Connect the phone to the same Wi-Fi as the printer.
2. Open the photo, document, email or web page. In Chrome and Gmail tap the three-dot menu and choose Print; in Google Photos and Files tap the three dots or Share and choose Print; in Samsung Gallery tap More › Print.
3. At the top of the print preview tap the printer dropdown (it may say Save as PDF) and choose your printer. The first time, tap All printers or Add printer to see the full list.
4. Set copies, colour, paper size and orientation, then tap the round print button.

Android 8 and later includes the Default Print Service, which finds IPP printers automatically. Check it is on in Settings › Connected devices › Connection preferences › Printing (Samsung: Settings › Connections › More connection settings › Printing). If your printer is missing, install Mopria Print Service from the Play Store, which supports a wider range of printers and adds options, or the brand's print plugin (HP Print Service Plugin, Canon Print Service, Epson Print Enabler, Brother Print Service Plugin). Samsung phones ship with the Samsung and HP plugin preloaded because HP owns Samsung's old printer business. Our Android Default Print Service page explains the settings.

How to print from a Chromebook

1. Open Settings › Print and scan › Printers. Modern printers on the same network appear under "Printers available to save"; click Save next to yours.
2. If it is missing, click Add printer, enter a name, the printer's IP address (from its network settings page), protocol IPP, and queue ipp/print. ChromeOS picks a generic driver automatically.
3. Print from any app with Ctrl+P and choose the printer as the destination.

Chromebooks can also scan from network printers in the same Print and scan settings. USB printers work as well: plug in and ChromeOS sets them up. For HP printers, the HP app is available for ChromeOS but not required. More on ChromeOS printing.

The brand apps: when to use them

The built-in methods print documents and photos. The brand apps add setup, scanning to the phone, ink and toner levels, cleaning tools and printing from cloud storage, and they are the most reliable route when the built-in list is empty:

Each app needs Local Network permission on iPhone and Nearby devices or Location permission on Android to discover the printer; allow them when asked. HP's app is covered on our HP app page.

Printer not showing up on your phone? Work through these

• Same network, same band. The phone may be on the 5 GHz band and the printer on 2.4 GHz; that is usually fine because they are one network, but some ISP routers and mesh systems isolate bands. Turn off Smart Wi-Fi or band steering and check the printer's network page shows a 192.168.x.x address.
• Wake the printer. Brother deep sleep and Epson and Canon power-off timers drop the Wi-Fi session. Press a button on the panel and try again.
• Turn off VPN and private DNS. A VPN tunnels everything and hides the local network. On Android, private DNS settings occasionally block mDNS discovery.
• Local Network permission (iPhone) and Nearby devices (Android). Check the app you are printing from is allowed.
• Guest and isolated networks. Hotel, campus and "Guest" networks block device-to-device traffic by design. Use Wi-Fi Direct instead; see Wi-Fi Direct printing.
• Restart the printer's Wi-Fi or the whole printer, then the phone's Wi-Fi. The broadcast cache on both sides resets.
• Check AirPrint or IPP is enabled in the printer's web page: HP Network › AirPrint; Canon Device settings › Web service setup; Epson Network › AirPrint; Brother Network › Protocol › AirPrint and IPP. A previous security hardening may have turned it off.

Printing without Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi Direct lets the phone join the printer's own network (named DIRECT-xx-model) and print with no router. On the printer enable Wi-Fi Direct, join that network from the phone's Wi-Fi list using the password shown on the printer, and print as normal. The phone loses regular Wi-Fi internet while connected, so switch back afterwards. HP's app also offers Print Anywhere and Epson offers Email Print, which send jobs over the internet to a printer at home while you are out; both need the printer registered to an account.

If nothing worked

If a laptop on the same Wi-Fi can print but no phone can see the printer even after the checks above, the router is blocking multicast discovery; that is a router setting (often called IGMP snooping, multicast filtering or AP isolation) and changing it fixes every phone at once. If nothing on the network can find the printer, the printer's Wi-Fi has dropped and our printer won't connect to Wi-Fi guide is the next stop. For a hand with the router settings or a stubborn setup, you can get help from a printer specialist remotely.