What is: AirPrint and How it Works?

Many Apple users have seen a feature named AirPrint on their Apple devices. Users who require printing documents daily use this feature to make their work easier. However, users who have never used this can wonder about this feature and how it works. In this article, we will tell you the detail about AirPrint and how it works.

What is: AirPrint?

AirPrint is a technology provided by Apple, which helps users to print anything without downloading or installing drivers. This feature allows a user to wirelessly print directly from Mac, iPhone, iPad and all other AirPrint compatible Apple devices on the same network. This was specially designed for the devices with no USB Port to plug a printer into it. AirPrint is just as simple as other printing features, where you select the options and tap on the print button. Printers and Apple devices use Bonjour (zero-configuration networking or zeroconf) technology to find each other without setting them up. The requirement for using this feature is Wi-Fi network, iOS device, and an AirPrint compatible wireless printer.

How AirPrint Works?

AirPrint can work in different scenarios with different requirements. The device and printer use a similar network to communicate through AirPrint technology and print anything the user wants. A simple method is demonstrated below in steps to show how AirPrint works on a device:

1. Open the page or any document that you want to print on your device.
2. Click the Share button and choose the Print option.

   

3. Now find your AirPrint compatible printer and choose that printer to print on it.
4. Choose the settings for printing and click the Print button. This will print the document without any issues.

   

However, you can also use the AirPrint feature without connected to a similar network. You can directly connect your device to the printer network and it works the same. Even if you don’t have internet, you can use the Wi-Fi feature on both printer and device to work the AirPrint feature out. Users can easily find their printer with Wi-Fi by searching it in the Networks option on their device as shown below.

Finally, if your printer is not one of the AirPrint compatible printers, then you can also use some third-party software to make the AirPrint feature work. It requires software, which can understand the AirPrint and the printer. In this method, the computer and the printer must have a wired or wireless connection between them. Users also have to enable the Printer sharing option on the computer. The computer can play the role of connected the AirPrint device to the printer and make it work. Some of the working software are Presto, Netputting, handyPrint, O’Print, and Printopia.