AirPrint: what it is and how it works

California-based Apple firmly believes in a “wireless” future. The company sincerely expects that soon all the equipment will work without any connections and make every effort to contribute to this.

So, at one of their conferences, company employees actively promoted the new technology and told a simple layman about AirPrint, what it is and how it will change our lives. And they convinced many.

This technology was one of the first links in the development of wireless electronics from Apple.

Airprint: what is it

In essence, AirPrint is a wireless printing technology developed and licensed by Apple. By purchasing a specialized printer that supports this technology, you can print documents and photos without interacting with it directly.

Simplicity of technology is akin to all solutions from a company from Cupertino. For its operation, you do not need to configure anything, download drivers or any additional software. It is enough to connect the printer and any of the devices, whether it be a computer, tablet or phone, to the same network and start printing.

It is important to note that the technology only works with devices from Apple.

How it works?

Now that AirPrint has become aware of what it is and why it is needed, you need to figure out how to work with it.

Print using AirPrint on a Mac:

1. First you need to find the right document or image and open it.
2. Then you should open the print menu (you can select “Print” in the program or use the keyboard shortcut Command-P).
3. A window will appear, in the first column of which you can select the appropriate printer (it may take some time for the desired device to appear in the list).
4. In the same window, you can look at the document itself, set the number of copies, select a format, change a number of other parameters (the set of options depends on the printer model, the software used and the file type).
5. When all parameters are defined, just click the “Print” button.

The printing process can be controlled in the print menu (the icon with the printer appears in the upper right corner).

Printing using AirPrint on iOS:

1. By analogy with a computer, first you need to open the desired document or image (the application should have a “Share” button and the “Print” item).
2. Then you need to open the print menu (the same “Share” button).
3. In the window that appears, you can take a look at how the document looks and specify the number of printed copies.
4. When all parameters are defined, just click the “Print” button.

The printing process can be controlled in the multitasking menu (double-clicking on the “Home” button).

Supported Printers

Unfortunately, the technology was not very popular, so finding a AirPrint printer for a long time was almost an impossible task, there were no decent solutions on the market, except for very rare and expensive copies.

Today, there are many printers made by Samsung, Canon, HP, and other wireless market leaders. And if before people were not aware of AirPrint, what it is, how it works and where to get it, now there is no need to inspect each model for support for this technology. Many modern printers work with Apple devices by default.

Sharing via AirPort Express and Time Capsule

AirPrint support is not a priority for most MFP and printer manufacturers. Therefore, another option for wireless printing is to connect the printing device to Apple routers. To do this, you need to acquire one of the devices in this category, they include:

• AirPort Express latest generation.
• AirPort Extreme.
• AirPort Extreme with physical storage for backups.

You can connect a printer to these devices using a USB cable and provide shared access for all computers on the same Wi-Fi network (for use with iOS, an AirPrint-enabled printer is still required).