iPhone and iPad can't find printer, but Mac does

[A.J. Hamler]

I have Googled this to death off and on for a couple months, and can't find an answer. Hope I've posted in the right place here since it covers iPhone, iPad as well as Mac Studio.

I have two wireless laser printers — an HP color in my office and a Brother b/w in my wife’s office — both of which are connected to my WiFi network. My Mac Studio easily finds both without issue and I can print to either of them. Same thing for my wife's Acer PC. It finds both and can print to either. (As an aside, the 27" iMac I had before, and the HP PC my wife had before could also find and print to either.)

But neither of our iPads or iPhones can find the Brother printer. They both find the HP downstairs, but neither can find the Brother on the network. It just isn’t there.

Additional: I recently replaced my router with a new one, but nothing changed. The Mac and PC both find the Brother printer, but our iPhones and iPads cannot.

Thanks in advance.

A.J.

 

[now i see it]

It needs to be an AirPrint compatible printer.
I don’t have one but there’s a workaround.
When on iPhone and you bring up the share sheet and choose Print, a new print page comes up which allows you to choose your printer (which you can’t if it’s not a AirPrint printer). At the bottom is a small preview of the print image.
Open swipe with two fingers on that image and a new PDF compatible image will be created. It just converted it to pdf. Then save the pdf and send the pdf to your other computer to print.
I save it to icloud and get it from there.

 

[Bigwaff]

But neither of our iPads or iPhones can find the Brother printer.

Perhaps you need to turn AirPrint on within the printer's settings?

 

[A.J. Hamler]

It needs to be an AirPrint compatible printer.
I don’t have one but there’s a workaround.
When on iPhone and you bring up the share sheet and choose Print, a new print page comes up which allows you to choose your printer (which you can’t if it’s not a AirPrint printer). At the bottom is a small preview of the print image.
Open swipe with two fingers on that image and a new PDF compatible image will be created. It just converted it to pdf. Then save the pdf and send the pdf to your other computer to print.
I save it to icloud and get it from there.

Yeah, that would work, but it would defeat the purpose. If I have to send it to my other computer to print it, I might as well start at the other computer. I appreciate the suggestion.

I did find a workaround that lets me print directly from the iPhone/iPad.

A.J.

 

[A.J. Hamler]

Perhaps you need to turn AirPrint on within the printer's settings?

Looking into it a bit more, it became apparently that Brother printer is simply too old to be AirPrint compatible. My error for assuming it was, although with my Mac able to find it on the network it was probably a logical assumption.

I did find a workaround, though. Brother has an app called iPrint&Scan. It adds a few nonintuitive steps, but it does allow me to print from either my iPhone or iPad directly without having to go downstairs to my officer every single time.

Thanks for your suggestion. It's what got me looking into an AirPrint alternative.

A.J.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

You could also install “AirPrint Server” software on the Mac, which will take the printer on the Mac and broadcast it as AirPrint. I had that type of software with an old printer for a while, until I replaced it with one with AirPrint built in.

 

[A.J. Hamler]

You could also install “AirPrint Server” software on the Mac, which will take the printer on the Mac and broadcast it as AirPrint. I had that type of software with an old printer for a while, until I replaced it with one with AirPrint built in.

Shiny! Thanks; I'll check it out.

A.J.