Canon printer

[kevgreen36]

Hi,does anyone know of an app which will work with my canon wifi printer
Pixma mp499

 

[twerppoet]

Your best bet is PrintCentral.

If that doesn't work you're left with apps that work through your computer to print. You need an iPad app like Printer Pro and it's computer side partner.

Neither is a perfect solution, but unless you are willing to buy a new AirPrint compatible printer (a select few HP printers for now) that's it.

 

[kevgreen36]

Thanks for that. Got printcentral now able to print from my ipad straight to my canon printer without pc, great.

 

[pjhbromley]

Hi, I have a Canon Pixma mp640. I can't seem to get Printcentral in Australia - any other good apps?

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Hi, I have a Canon Pixma mp640. I can't seem to get Printcentral in Australia - any other good apps?

There's some slight confusion. The developer withdrew PrintCentral and replaced it with 'Print N Share', which appears to have identical functionality (I have PrintCentral). However, a Forum member reported recently that the Developer has indicated that they have resubmitted PrintCentral to Apple for inclusion in the App Store. I don't think anyone here has identified what the difference is between PrintCentral and Print N Share and several members have used Print N Share very successfully.

Tim
Scotland

 

[Landshark]

I have a Canon MFC printer and use Print n Share wireless without any issues.

 

[justinjkemp]

All of these inkjet printers is the purpose with different features and options. Color laser printers are suitable for printing color documents and group work. It is one of the biggest names in the world, not only in the printing arena, but in the entire industry of innovative technology solutions products.

 

[harry.ward]

Is a MX300 ?

regards

harry

 

[twerppoet]

Been a lot of changes to what is available for printing since this thread started, both in software and hardware. I'll pop in an update for other's that might stumble on it.


Some printers are directly compatible with AirPrint on the iPad. Be absolutely certain the printer supports AirPrint before buying. Some printers may require a firmware update to work. These are usually available on the manufacturers site. If you get this kind of printer you can print directly from within apps that support the feature, which is many.

iOS: AirPrint 101

Of course some of us already have printers and do not want to buy a new one. There are several ways to do this.

One is to use a printing app on the iPad.

Most (or all) other print apps can only print pictures and/or files that have been copied to that app via Open In or other method. Print n Share used to be able to print from AirPrint enabled apps if it was loaded the background. It lost this ability with iOS 5. It may still work with iOS 4 if you get it before the app is updated in the App Store. Several printer manufacturers have their own apps for their printers. In general those apps will probably have the best results, quality wise.

The second method is to load a program on the computer that will emulate an AirPrint compatible printer. Your computer must be on and have the printer available to it. The cheapest (free) is Airprint Activator. More features can be had with FingerPrint (mac and windows) and Printopia (mac only).

There is a third way. A few printers (mostly HP's again) can be set up with their own email address. PDF attachments can be sent via this address to be printed. The last review I saw (several months ago) said it could be quite slow (big files not recommended), and sometimes the emails got lost and never printed. The advantage was that you could literally send/print from anywhere you have an internet connection.

There is a new wrinkle for small business owners and those with more than one printer who would like all their printers to work, but don't want to leave a computer on all the time. The Lantronix XPrintServer is a small box that connects to your network and is supposed to detect and make all your wireless printers available to iOS as AirPrint printers. I haven't seen a full review on it yet, so do your research.