Even with so much advancement in the digital world, the need for printing still exists, especially, at the corporate level. If you print often and are looking for a convenient way to print from your mobile, then printing right from your Android phone may be of interest.
This is not a “stock Android” feature, but Google offers a free and simple solution for it. The best part is that, you don’t need any latest model or expensive printers to do this, even if you have an old network based printer, you can still print from your android phone.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you two different methods to print from your Android phone for Free.
Method #1: Use Google Cloud Print to Print from Your Android Phone
Google Cloud Print is a great printing solution for all devices that lack this feature. It can be used in all android devices and in chromebooks as well. However, you will first have to add the printer to the Google Cloud Print website
To prepare your printer and phone for printing, go to Google Cloud Print website. You will be immediately provided the options to add your printer. There will be two options, “Add Classic Printer” and “Add Cloud Ready Printer”.
Add Classic Printer
These are the old network-based printers that need to be connected to a PC in order to work. If you have a Classic printer, you will need to keep it connected to the PC while you are away and make sure Chrome is open on the PC.
This option will utilize Cloud printing enabled on a specific PC and connect to it using the network (like Wi-Fi). If the PC is off or not connected to any network, the command will not be executed until it connects. Just click on “Add Classic Printer” to add it to the website, on the next page. Google will provide all instructions on how you can add your classic printer for cloud printing.
Add Cloud Ready Printer
These are the latest printers that are coming with built-in Wi-Fi feature. They don’t require any kind of special setup or even a connected PC. They will directly connect to your Android phone and process commands from it.
If you have a Wi-Fi enabled Printer, then most probably it will be eligible for cloud printing (depending on its age). To confirm, you can just click on “Add Cloud Ready Printer” and you will see all the supported printers under the name of the manufacturer. Here, look for the model of your printer and it should be there under the manufacturer’s name.
The instructions to setup your specific printer for cloud printing will be available in the link under your Printer Manufacturer’s name. Even if you don’t find it there, check the manual that came with your printer and it must have the instruction for cloud printing
Prepare Your Android Device
Now that your Printer is ready and connected, it is time to configure your Android device so you will be able to print from it. All you need to do is download Google’s Cloud Print application from Google Play Store and you are done. However, you need to make sure you are using the same Google Account on your Android phone that you used to register your Printer.
If Google’s Cloud Print application is not compatible with your phone, or if you are looking for more features, then you can also use third-party apps such as Cloud Print Plus. Most of these apps also use the same Google Cloud Print interface, so you don’t have to worry about adding your printer to another app. If you are looking for another app or an app that can enable printing on another device, here is a list of apps compatible with Google Cloud Print.
To start Printing, just selected the printer in the app and tap on “Share” button on the content which you would like to print. You will see the option of cloud print in there, just click on it to print the content.
Method #2: Print using Your Printer manufacturer’s dedicated App
This is actually a lot easier and reliable method than the one above as you won’t have to register or depend on any third-party cloud service, however, it is very limited. This will only apply to a wireless printer and the manufacturer of your device must provide a dedicated app.
This method requires some strict situations, but it is far easier and faster to use. It doesn’t require any special setup and connects directly to the printer.
Most of the Printer Manufacturers who sell Wireless printers, also have a dedicated app that will let you control the printer wirelessly from anywhere.
However, printing features these apps provide also depend on the manufacturer of the printer. For example, HP ePrint app will let you print, PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, photos and webpages. On the other hand, Samsung Mobile Print will let you both print and fax content such as, images, web pages, content on social network sites, emails, PDFs and MS office documents.
If you have a wireless printer, just search for the name of your printer manufacturer on Google Play Store and you should be able to find an app that will let you print. You can check the features list to see what they will let you print and if it is good enough for you or not. If you have any issues or don’t like the app provided by your manufacturer, you always have the options mentioned in Method #1.
If you have any questions or know any other reliable method to print from android phone, let us know in the comments.