AirPrint Stopped Working? Here Is What to Do
AirPrint makes it much easier to print from an Apple device, such as iPhone, iPad, or Mac, to an enabled printer. It is a great technology when it works. Sometimes, your printing abilities may stop working for no apparent reason.
In this article, my focus is on what you can do to fix things when AirPrint suddenly stops when it had been working previously. Obviously, something changed that caused your AirPrint printer not to connect and print. In other words, you were successfully printing with AirPrint, but then suddenly, you were not.
Many things could cause this problem. For example, you may have changed some settings to troubleshoot another issue, and then, unknown to you, you may have caused this issue as a side effect. One or more of your devices may be experiencing this issue. Fortunately, I will cover what you can check to get it working again.
Check these first
- Ensure that your device has the latest version of its operating system. To check for an update on your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Software Update. If it is a Mac, go to System Settings > General > Software Update.
- For AirPrint to work, your iOS, iPadOS or macOS device and the printer must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. For example, if your device is connected to the Internet via a cellular network, it won’t work. This happens to me a lot. Sometimes, I turn off Wi-Fi and connect to the Internet over cellular, and then I can’t use AirPrint until I turn on Wi-Fi again.
- Do you have a VPN app installed on your device (regardless of whether you are connected through the VPN)? Delete the VPN profile. You can do so by going to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > VPN and tapping the (i) next to VPN. Then tap Delete VPN. You can also delete VPN from your Mac.
- Try forgetting your Wi-Fi network. On your device, open Settings > Wi-Fi and then tap the (i) next to the Wi-Fi network. Then tap Forget This Network. And then re-connect to it.
Restart the Bonjour network
If the issue continues, restarting Bonjour will likely fix this AirPrint problem. Bonjour is Apple’s networking technology. It is used for printer discovery and communication. Sometimes, Bonjour may have issues, and restarting will fix them. You can restart by following these steps:
- Turn off your printer.
- Turn off the device you can’t print with, like your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
- Unplug the Wi-Fi router from the power source, wait 15 seconds and then plug it back in.
- Wait for your router to start working again. This may take a few minutes. Ensure that your router is ready before going to the next step.
- Turn on your Apple device.
- Ensure that your Apple device is connected to the Wi-Fi network. It will probably connect automatically. If not, connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi.
- Turn on the printer and wait for it to get ready and connect to the Wi-Fi as well.
Following the steps above will restart Bonjour. Check if your AirPrint issue has been resolved.
Related articles