Apple's AirPrint printing is highly integrated with iPhone and iPad. The “Print” option you see across operating systems will only print to printers that support AirPrint. You can still print to a printer that supports Google Cloud Print, but that will take a little extra effort.
Many modern wireless printers support AirPrint and Google Cloud Print, so they should work if you're nearby. But Google Cloud Print lets you connect your old printer and print over the Internet too, which Apple's AirPrint doesn't offer. Here's a tutorial on How to Print to Google Cloud Print from iOS.
How do I print from Google Cloud Print to my iPhone?
1. Print to Google Cloud Print From Google's Own App
Google apps themselves generally have Google Cloud Print in them. For example, you view a web page in the Chrome app, read an email in the Gmail app, or view a Google Drive document in the Docs, Sheets, or Slides app. You can open the application menu and select the “Print” option to print the document.
This option is located in different places in different apps. For example, in Google Chrome, you have to open the menu, tap the “Share” button that looks like a box with an arrow outside it, then tap the “Print” action in the second row of icons. In Google's own app, you'll get the option to print to Google Cloud Print instead of Apple's AirPrint, if you prefer.
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| Google Cloud Print |
Google Cloud Print will offer you printers associated with your Google account, so make sure you're signed in to the app with the same Google account you're associated with the printer in Google Cloud Print. If you use a different Google account, you can visit the Google Cloud Print website and share the printer with another Google account.
2. Print From Any Application with PrintCentral Pro
Unfortunately, Google doesn't provide an official Google Cloud Print app for iOS. It just builds Google Cloud Print into its own app. If you want to print to a Google Cloud Print-enabled printer from another application – or print document types that are not supported by the Google application – you will need a third-party printing application.
Google officially recommends the PrintCentral Pro app for printing on iOS. Two versions are available: one for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple Watch and another for iPad. The iPhone version costs $5 and the iPad version costs $8.
While there are other printing apps that claim to support Google Cloud Print, they are also paid apps and Google hasn't officially recommended it yet. That's why we recommend PrintCentral Pro. The app fills in the missing pieces with Google Cloud Print – and other types of printers – on iOS.
Once you have it installed, you can open the app and see a list of nearby printers. PrintCentral Pro supports a variety of other printers, including most Wi-Fi printers. Tap the “+” button on the screen that lists available printers, select “Google Cloud Printing,” and sign in with your Google account to gain access to all of your Google Cloud Print printers.
While you can open the PrintCentral Pro app and load web pages, images, and other documents for printing, the Sharing feature in iOS can help a lot. This allows you to “Share” documents from almost any application to PrintCentral Pro, which can then print them on any printer that supports Google Cloud Print.
To do this, open the application you want to print and open the document you want to print. Tap the “Share” button, which looks like a box with an arrow pointing up. Tap the “More” button on the right side of the bottom row of icons while you are viewing the share sheet and enable the “PCL Pro” action.
You will then see a “PCL Pro” icon in the second row of icons. Tap this icon to send a copy of the current document to the PrintCentral Pro application. You'll get a normal interface, which lets you print to all available printers – including Google Cloud Print printers.
While you'll get the most integrated printing experience with any AirPrint printer, the Sharing extension added in iOS 8 makes PrintCentral Pro – and Google Cloud Print – much more convenient to use. This app can basically extend any app on iOS with support for printing to Google Cloud Print or any other type of printer, as long as the app contains a Share button.
If you just need to print a web page, email, or document, you can also use Google's own app to print for free. Hopefully the article on How to Print to Google Cloud Print from iOS can be useful for readers about Printers, thank you for visiting...