You’ve taken beautiful photos of your kids, your vacation, and your family dog. You’ve post them to Instagram and Facebook and look through your albums on your phone whenever you get a chance. But sometimes you want to go the old-fashioned route and make a physical print to stick on your fridge, frame and hang on your wall, or send to a relative who may not be on social media.
Fortunately, it’s easy to make physical prints from your phone. You can send photos directly to your home printer (no computer needed, in many cases), use an app to order prints for delivery at home or same-day in-store pickup, or print photos on a portable printer while you’re on the go. Here are the steps to get your photos off your phone and onto paper.
1. Send photos from your phone to your home printer
If you’ve purchased your printer within the last several years, it will likely have WiFi connectivity and you’ll be to print to your printer wirelessly (if not, I like the Epson EcoTank ET-2800 that's $199.99 on Staples). You can use the app from your printer manufacturer or make use of AirPrint for iOS devices or Google Cloud Print for Android devices. Here’s how:
Printing wirelessly to your home printer from your iPhone
The easiest way to print from your iPhone is to use AirPrint. First, confirm that your printer supports AirPrint. Apple has a list of AirPrint compatible printers. If your printer is on the list of AirPrint compatible printers, make sure it’s connected to WiFi and that it’s connected to the same WiFi network as your phone.
- Open the Photos app.
- Select the photo you want to print and tap the share icon.
- Scroll down and select Print.
- Tap on Select Printer.
- Select your printer from the list.
- Change the paper size, if needed, under Options
- Tap on Print.
Printer manufacturers also have their own apps, which include extras, like making collages and other photo projects, or ordering supplies. Once you install the app and connect to your printer (the app will walk you through it), you’ll be able to browse through your photos and print.
Printing wirelessly to your home printer from your Android phone
First, confirm that your printer supports Google Cloud Print. Google has a list of Cloud Print compatible printers. If your printer is on the list of Cloud Print compatible printers, make sure it’s connected to WiFi and that it’s connected to the same WiFi network as your phone.
To print from your Android phone to your home printer, you’ll need to set up printing on your phone.
- Go to Settings
- Select Connected devices
- Select Connection preferences
- Select Printing
- Select Google Cloud Print (if you don’t already have Cloud Print installed, you can install it now from this screen)
- If you see your printer, select it and you’ll be ready to print.
If you don’t see your printer:
- Tap the triple dots in the upper right corner to open the menu
- Select Add printer. If you don’t see your printer, hit the refresh button in the upper right corner.
- Select your printer and your printer will be added to Cloud Print. If you don’t see your printer, hit the refresh button in the upper right corner.
- On your printer, confirm that you want to add your phone as a device that’s allowed to print to your printer.
Once you have printing set up, you can open your photos app to select photos to print.
- Select the photo you want to print
- Tap the triple dots in upper right
- Scroll over to print
- Tap on Select Printer
- Select your printer from the list.
- Change the paper size, if needed, by tapping the down arrow
- Tap on the printer icon
Setting up Google Cloud Print will enable you to print from any app that supports printing. You can also choose to install your manufacturer’s app, which usually has extras like photo editing, ordering supplies, or making photo crafts.
Printing to your home printer if it’s not WiFi ready
If you don’t have a printer with WiFi, you can always email the photo to yourself and print it from your computer. To email yourself a photo, select the photo, select Share, select Email, and then put your email as the recipient. You’ll want to make sure you send yourself a high-resolution copy. Or, you can try one of the print services below. Both services offer free 4" x 6" prints, though you will have to pay for shipping.
2. Order free professional prints with an app
Photo service apps let you order free lab-quality prints from your smartphone for delivery to your home within a couple of days or pick them up in as little as one hour from a nearby participating store.
Shutterfly
Shutterfly offers free unlimited 4" x 4" and 4" x 6" prints (you pay for shipping) for its Shutterfly app users. You can choose from photos on your phone, Shutterfly, Facebook, Instagram, or Google Photos. Selecting multiple images is as easy as swiping across them.
In addition to the free prints, you can also order 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 11" x 14", 12" x 12", 16" x 20", 5" x 15", 8" x 24", 12" x 36", 20" x 30" and wallet size (4 per print) at an additional cost.
You can pay for shipping or choose to pick up your photos at a nearby participating Walgreens or CVS Pharmacy. Some locations offer one-hour printing.
Price: Free on Google Play and App Store
Prints: Free for 4" x 4" and 4" x 6", on sale $0.89 ($0.99 regular) each for 5" x 7"
Shipping: starting at $2.17 for economy shipping, starting at $20.17 for rush shipping
Speed: five to ten days; two working days for express shipping; at little as one hour for in-store pickup
Editing capabilities: cropping, rotating
FreePrints
FreePrints offers up to 1,000 free 4" x 6" prints per year (plus shipping). This streamlined app is an easy way to print photos from your phone camera as well as Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and, for iPhone users, anything save in your Files.
You can order square 5” x 5” prints for Instagram shots as well as 5" x 7", 8" x 10" and larger prints up to 20" x 30" at an additional cost. You can also choose “Easel” prints at 5" x 7" or 8" x 10", which are printed on a thicker stock have built-in stands. Photos are printed on lab-quality paper from Kodak and Fujifilm, with a matte finish.
Price: Free on Google Play and App Store
Prints: Free for 4" x 6" prints (up to 85 per month or 1,000 per year); from $0.49 each for 5" x 5" prints and from $14.00 for Easel prints
Shipping: $1.99 to $9.99; $1.00 more for two-day shipping; free shipping the first time you use the app
Speed: Four to six days; two working days for express shipping
Editing capabilities: cropping, rotating, black-and-white filter
3. Print on the go with a portable smartphone printer
Pull out a portable printer during your next vacation and instantly print anyone's smartphone photos for hard-copy keepsakes.
Fujifilm Instax Link Wide Bluetooth printer
The tiny Fujifilm Instax Link Wide printer connects via Bluetooth to your smartphone, with an app for selecting and printing 3" x 5" prints in about 12 seconds. The film then processes for up to a minute to reveal the photo. The app lets you create collages and crop the photo and add frames, borders, filters, stickers, and more to personalize your prints. The Instax Link Wide has a rechargeable battery that lasts for about 100 prints per charge. No film comes in the box, so the links below are to bundles that include film.
Price: $149.99 for camera only. $169.99 for camera plus two 10-packs of film.
Updated on 4/4/2022 with current pricing information and new printer recommendations.
[printer with smartphone image via BigStockPhoto, FreePrints/Techlicious, Shutterfly/Techlicious, Fujifilm]
For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, and NBC.
From John on January 27, 2015 :: 6:36 am
Just to note that FreePrints is somewhat less generous in the UK: up to 45 six-by-fours a month with a maximum of 500 a year. Postage is quoted at from £1.49 to “never more than £3.99”
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