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I need to print web pages from Safari to a mobile printer in the field using an iPad. I can't seem to figure this out - any ideas, suggestions?

As I understand it, I cannot connect to a printer via bluetooth - iOS does not allow this.

I won't be in an area with WiFi - so I can't connect that way.

I have two thoughts....

  1. Can I use the mobile hotspot on the iPad to create the WiFi network and then print to the Wifi printer using this network? Would that work?

  2. Using the camera connection kit/USB attachment to print to a USB connected printer. Would that work?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be so appreciated.

Thank you!

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First one is something you can try and then use something mentioned here ipadacademy.com/2012/03/… I dont have any experience with these though. – ACB Dec 3 '12 at 22:48

migrated from stackoverflow.com Dec 3 '12 at 22:05

4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Depending on your printer, you can sometimes print photos from the printer end. If your printer is able to see photos on your iPad using the camera connection kit, then you could take a screenshot of the webpage, then find the image using the photo browser function of your printer, and print the image.

If your printer is airprint enabled, then it might be possible to do as you suggest and connect the printer to the iPad hotspot, but I don't have an iPad that can create WiFi hotspots, so I can't test it.

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Thank you @daviewales - I'll have to give it a test on my end. – user1873916 Dec 3 '12 at 23:55
up vote 1 down vote

Use the app Print n Share ; I print recipes and articles daily from Safari through this app. It only takes seconds and has plenty of other nice features so seems to be very useful and powerful - In fact its my only non Apple app on my iPad home screen!

The app will use the personal hotspot on the device for an adhoc wifi so I even use it on the road with my portable HP H470 printer in the trunk (yes I tried Bluetooth too).

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up vote 0 down vote

Just found this link that seems to confirm that a mobile hotspot can indeed be used as a WIFI network for printing via an AirPrint printer. Excellent.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4007254?start=0&tstart=0

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up vote 0 down vote

Some printers can have cameras connect over USB directly (as in, 30-pin/Lighning end plugged into the iPad, USB end plugged into the printer).

For example, photo printing kiosks (such as the ones at Target) let you do this. I have printed photos from my iPhone plenty of times that way.

Assuming you're buying a new printer and don't need wireless, this should work the most reliably, I expect.

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