How to Add a Printer to iPhone
Adding a printer to an iPhone is simpler than most people expect, because Apple built printing straight into iOS. If your HP DeskJet supports AirPrint — and almost every DeskJet made in the last decade does — you do not need to install anything at all: put the printer and the phone on the same WiFi network, tap Share, tap Print, and your printer appears. The HP Smart app is still worth installing if you need to set the printer up on WiFi in the first place, scan documents, or check ink levels. This guide covers both routes, plus the fixes for the one problem that trips almost everyone up: the printer not showing in the list.
boltQuick Answer
To add a printer to your iPhone, connect both the iPhone and the printer to the same WiFi network, then open any photo, document, or web page, tap Share, tap Print, and select your printer. No app or driver is needed if your printer supports AirPrint. If the printer does not appear, the most common cause is that the phone is on the 5GHz band while the printer is on 2.4GHz — switch the phone to the 2.4GHz network and try again.
Before You Start: What You Need
The short checklist
- An AirPrint-compatible printer. Nearly all HP DeskJet models from the last decade support AirPrint. If your printer was made before about 2012, check HP's AirPrint compatibility list for your model before continuing.
- Both devices on the same WiFi network. The iPhone and the printer must be on the same home network — not just the same router name, but the same network. A guest network, a VPN on the phone, or a different band can all block discovery.
- The printer powered on and on WiFi. A solid blue wireless light on most DeskJets means it is connected. A flashing light means it is still looking for a network — finish the WiFi setup first.
- A reasonably current iOS version. AirPrint has been built into iOS since iOS 4.2, so any iPhone running a supported iOS version in 2026 already has it. No download is required for basic printing.
Do you need the HP Smart app?
For printing alone, no. AirPrint handles printing from Photos, Safari, Mail, Files, and most third-party apps without any extra software. Install HP Smart only if you also want to set up a new printer on WiFi, scan from the printer to your phone, check ink levels, or order supplies. Method 2 below covers that route in full.
Method 1: Print with AirPrint (No App Needed)
Connect the printer to your WiFi network
If the printer is already on your home WiFi, skip this step. If it is new or was just reset, connect it first — our guide to connecting a printer to WiFi walks through the HP Smart app, WPS, and Wireless Setup Wizard methods. The printer needs a solid wireless light before AirPrint can find it.
Connect your iPhone to the same WiFi network
Open Settings > Wi-Fi on your iPhone and check the network name. It must match the network the printer joined. This is where most failures start: if your router broadcasts two names, such as "HomeWiFi" and "HomeWiFi_5G", the printer is almost certainly on the 2.4GHz one (most DeskJets are 2.4GHz-only). Join the 2.4GHz network on your phone for setup — you can switch back afterwards.
Open what you want to print and tap Share
Open a photo in Photos, a document in Files, an email in Mail, or a page in Safari. Tap the Share button (the square with an arrow pointing up). Scroll down and tap Print. If you do not see Print in the list, scroll to the bottom of the Share sheet and tap Edit Actions to add it.
Select your printer
On the Print screen, tap Printer (it may say "Select Printer" the first time). Your DeskJet should appear in the list within a few seconds. Tap it, and iOS remembers it as your default printer from then on — you will not need to select it again next time.
Choose copies and options, then tap Print
Set the number of copies, and tap Options if you need to change paper size, orientation, or colour versus black-and-white. Then tap Print in the top-right corner. The job should start within seconds. If it does not, see the troubleshooting section below before redoing the setup.
Method 2: Add Your Printer with the HP Smart App
Install HP Smart from the App Store
Download the free HP Smart app from the App Store. You will need an Apple ID to install it, but you do not need an HP account to print — HP account sign-in is optional during setup, and you can skip it.
Allow the permissions the app actually needs
When asked, allow HP Smart to find devices on your local network and to use Bluetooth. Without local-network permission, the app cannot discover the printer at all — this is the single most common reason HP Smart finds nothing. If you declined it earlier, fix it in Settings > HP Smart by turning on Local Network and Bluetooth.
Tap + to add your printer
Open HP Smart and tap the + (plus) icon or Add Printer. If the printer is in wireless setup mode (wireless light flashing), the app should find it within a minute. If it does not appear, choose Set up a new printer and follow the prompts, which walk you through joining the printer to your WiFi network.
Print, scan, and check ink from the app
Once added, the printer's home screen in HP Smart lets you print photos and documents stored on the phone, scan using the printer's scanner, and see approximate ink levels. Scanning is the main reason to keep the app even though AirPrint already covers printing: iOS has no built-in way to pull a scan off a DeskJet's flatbed scanner.
Printing from HP Smart versus AirPrint
Both print to the same printer, so use whichever is open. AirPrint is faster for a photo or web page you are already looking at; HP Smart is better for printing a file saved in the app or for scanning. Neither one changes print quality — that is set by the printer and the paper, not the app.
No WiFi Router? Use Wi-Fi Direct as a Fallback
What Wi-Fi Direct does
Wi-Fi Direct lets your iPhone connect straight to the printer, with no router in between. The printer broadcasts its own small network, your phone joins it, and you print. It is a useful fallback at a friend's house, in a rental, or when the home router is down — but it is not ideal as an everyday setup, because your phone loses its internet connection while joined to the printer's network.
Turn on Wi-Fi Direct on the printer
On most DeskJets, press and hold the Wi-Fi Direct button (or the Wireless and Information buttons together on models without a dedicated button) until the Wi-Fi Direct light turns on. The printer may print an information page showing its Wi-Fi Direct network name and password.
Join the printer's network on your iPhone
Open Settings > Wi-Fi and select the printer's network name (usually starting with "DIRECT-"). Enter the password from the information page. Then print from any app exactly as in Method 1 — AirPrint works over Wi-Fi Direct too.
Switch back to your home WiFi when you are done
When you finish printing, rejoin your normal home network in Settings > Wi-Fi so your phone's internet access returns. For regular home use, connect the printer to your router instead — that way every device in the house can reach it without anyone switching networks.
Printer Not Showing Up? 6 Fixes That Actually Work
Check the 2.4GHz versus 5GHz mismatch first
This fixes more cases than everything else combined. Most DeskJets only have a 2.4GHz radio, so they join the 2.4GHz band. If your iPhone is on the 5GHz band, the printer may not appear even though both are technically on the same router. Join the 2.4GHz network on the phone, then try printing again.
Turn off your VPN and check for a guest network
A VPN on the iPhone routes traffic away from the local network, which hides the printer. Turn the VPN off for printing. Likewise, if the phone is on a guest network while the printer is on the main network, the two cannot see each other — guest networks are deliberately isolated. Move both to the same main network.
Restart the printer, then the phone
Power the printer off, wait 30 seconds, and power it back on. If it still does not appear, restart the iPhone as well. Discovery (the Bonjour/mDNS broadcast AirPrint relies on) sometimes stalls on one side or the other, and a restart clears it. This sounds too simple to work; it works surprisingly often.
Check HP Smart's Local Network permission
If you are using HP Smart and it finds nothing, open Settings > HP Smart and make sure Local Network is on. iOS asks this permission once, and a tap on "Don't Allow" at that moment silently blocks all printer discovery until you flip it back on manually.
Move the printer closer to the router
A weak WiFi signal makes the printer drop off the network intermittently, so it appears and disappears in the printer list. If the printer sits in a far corner behind thick walls, move it closer to the router or add a WiFi extender in between and re-run the WiFi setup.
Reset the printer's network settings and start over
As a last resort, restore the printer's network defaults — on most DeskJets, hold the Wireless and Cancel buttons together for about 3 seconds until the wireless light flashes — then reconnect it to WiFi using Method 1 or Method 2 above. A fresh network setup clears configuration states that individual fixes cannot reach. Do not factory-reset the whole printer unless HP support tells you to; a network reset is enough for discovery problems.
Printing Tips: Photos, PDFs, Double-Sided, and More
Photos and PDFs print differently — and that is normal
Photos print from the Photos app at the size and quality the printer supports for photo paper; PDFs and documents print from Files or Mail with text sharpness as the priority. If a photo looks washed out, check that you selected photo paper in the print options rather than plain paper — the printer lays down far less ink on plain paper.
Double-sided and paper-size options
On the AirPrint print screen, tap Options to reach duplex (double-sided) printing if your DeskJet supports it, plus paper size (Letter, A4, 4x6 photo) and orientation. These settings reset to the printer's defaults for the next job, so check them each time you print something unusual, like a 4x6 photo or a landscape document.
Printing an email attachment or a web page
In Mail, open the attachment and use the Share button, then Print. In Safari, use Share > Print — Safari prints the page as it appears, so a cluttered page prints cluttered. For a cleaner result, switch Safari to Reader view first (the book icon in the address bar) when it is available.
Multiple printers in the house
iOS remembers the last printer you used as the default. To switch, tap Printer on the print screen and pick the other one — no setup is needed again, because both printers were already added the first time they were selected. To remove a printer you no longer own, there is nothing to delete in iOS: it simply stops appearing once it is off the network.
Bonus: Scan from Your DeskJet to Your iPhone
Use HP Smart for scanning — AirPrint cannot do it
AirPrint covers printing only, not scanning. To scan a document from a DeskJet's flatbed into your iPhone, use the HP Smart app: place the document on the scanner glass, open HP Smart, tap Scan, and follow the prompts. The scan saves to your phone as a PDF or image, ready to email or upload. If your DeskJet has no scanner (some entry-level models do not), this does not apply — check your model's specifications first.