AirPrint: what it is and how it works

The California corporation Apple piously believes in a "wireless" future. The company sincerely expects that soon all the equipment will work without any connections and make every effort to promote this.

So, at one of its conferences, the company's employees actively promoted the new technology and told the common man about AirPrint what it is and how it will change our lives. And many were persuaded.

This technology has become one of the first links in the development of wireless electronics by Apple.

AirPrint: what is it

In fact, 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 directly with it.

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

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

How it works?

Now, when it became known about AirPrint, what it is and why it is needed, it is necessary to find out how to work with it.

Printing using AirPrint on a Mac:

1. First you need to find the document or image you want and open it.
2. Then open the print menu (you can select "Print" in the program or use the Command-P shortcut).
3. A window will appear in the first column of which you can select the appropriate printer (it may take some time for the necessary device to appear in the list).
4. In the same window you can look at the document itself, set the number of copies, select the 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, it is enough to press the "Print" button.

The printing process can be controlled in the print menu (the icon with the printer appearing 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 (in the application there should be a button "Share" and the item "Print").
2. Then you need to open the print menu (that same "Share" button).
3. In the window that appears, you can take a look at how the document looks and specify the number of copies to be printed.
4. When all parameters are defined, it is enough to press 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 demanded, therefore, it was almost impossible to find an AirPrint printer for a long time, there were no decent solutions on the market, except for very rare and expensive copies.

Today, there are many printers produced by Samsung, Canon, HP and other market leaders operating in a wireless network. 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 the availability of 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 manufacturers and printers. Therefore, another option for wireless printing is to connect the print device to Apple's routers. To do this, you need to acquire one of the devices in this category, including:

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

You can connect the printer to these devices using a USB cable and share all computers on the same Wi-Fi network (iOS still requires an AirPrint printer).