How to Print From an Android Phone to an HP Wireless Printer
By Danielle Fernandez
Hewlett-Packard offers two free printing apps for Android devices that allow you to send any content -- photo, Web page or document, for example -- from your phone to a local HP printer. HP's ePrint mobile printing technology is built into many HP printers and enables wireless printing from any mobile device. If your printer is ePrint-enabled, you can send files to print remotely from anywhere in the world. If your printer is not ePrint-enabled, you simply need to be using the same wireless network to facilitate printing.
Is Your Printer ePrint-Enabled?
Printers with the ePrint technology built in offer a variety of additional features -- including sending files to print via email or mobile app from anywhere in the world as well as the ability to pre-configure your print settings. According to the HP website, most HP printers purchased after 2010 feature ePrint technology, signified with an "ePrint" icon or button on the device itself. You can also visit the company's "HP Web-Connected Printers" page (link in Resources) to determine if your printer is ePrint-enabled.
Non-ePrint Device Capabilities
While an ePrint-enabled HP printer is equipped to accept documents for production by way of email or the mobile app, it is by no means required to facilitate printing from your Android phone -- the HP ePrint app is available for free in the Google Play Store for any Android device running Android OS 2.2 or higher; so, as long as your printer is wireless, manufactured by Hewlett Packard and shares the same Wi-Fi network as your smartphone, the HP ePrint app will discover and print to it.
Printing with the HP ePrint Mobile App
Once you have the ePrint app installed, use the "Share" icon to print from any Android app or launch the app and use it to search for and print documents stored on the device. The app also has photo tray support so that photos are automatically sent through your printer's photo tray for printing and can even be used to print securely to HP Public Print Locations worldwide including FedEx Kinkos, UPS Stores and many airport kiosks.
Using the HP ePrint app, you can select "Documents," tap a file name to preview it and then tap either "Print" -- or "Print Setup" to modify the print settings -- to send it to an enabled printer. Printing photos from within the app is done in a similar fashion. Tap the "Photo Albums" icon and then tap an album you'd like to edit. Select a photo to preview it -- you can tap the center of the photo and make changes using the app's editing features -- and then tap "Print" to send it to the printer.
Printing from Other Apps
You don't need to launch the HP ePrint mobile app to facilitate printing to your HP printer. You can also print content from any other app as well -- for example, print Web pages from the mobile browser or a spreadsheet from your favorite office document application. Simply tap the "Share" icon -- which looks like a dot with two protruding lines -- and select "HP ePrint" from the available share-to services. Alternately, you can tap an email attachment you would like to print and select "HP ePrint" when the "Complete Action Using" prompt appears.
Writer Bio
Based in Tampa, Fla., Danielle Fernandez been writing, editing and illustrating all things technology, lifestyle and education since 1999. Her work has appeared in the Tampa Tribune, Working Mother magazine, and a variety of technical publications, including BICSI's "Telecommunications Distribution Methods Manual." Fernandez holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of South Florida.