How to Connect Canon Printer to iPhone

If you've ever tried to print a document or photo from your iPhone and hit a wall, you're not alone. Learning how to connect Canon printer to iPhone is one of the most common questions Canon users ask, and the good news is that it's far simpler than most people expect. Whether you're printing boarding passes, recipes, contracts, or photos, a Canon printer and an iPhone can work together seamlessly once you know the right steps. This guide walks you through every method available, from AirPrint to the Canon PRINT app, so you can get the setup that fits your workflow.

Canon printers are consistently praised for their reliability and image quality — factors we cover in depth in our printer reviews and buying guides. If you're also curious how Canon stacks up against the competition, our comparison of HP vs Canon printers is worth a read before you commit to a model.

Connection Methods at a Glance

Before diving into the individual steps, it helps to understand what options are available. Canon printers support several wireless printing methods when used with an iPhone. Your best choice depends on your printer model, your network setup, and how often you print.

For most households and small offices, AirPrint is the go-to. It's built into iOS and requires zero app installation. The Canon PRINT app adds value when you need fine-grained control over photo printing settings or want to use scanning features from your iPhone.

Using AirPrint (the Easiest Method)

AirPrint is Apple's built-in wireless printing protocol, introduced in iOS 4.2. It lets your iPhone discover and print to compatible printers on the same Wi-Fi network without any drivers or apps. Canon has been rolling out AirPrint support across its PIXMA, MAXIFY, and imageCLASS lines for years, so the majority of printers made in the last several years are compatible.

AirPrint Requirements

• A Canon printer with AirPrint support (check the printer's spec sheet or Canon's website)
• Your iPhone running iOS 9 or later (virtually all modern iPhones qualify)
• Both your iPhone and the Canon printer connected to the same Wi-Fi network
• The printer powered on and not in sleep mode

One thing that trips people up: your iPhone must be on the same network band as the printer. Some dual-band routers separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks with different SSIDs. Many Canon printers only connect on 2.4 GHz. If your iPhone is on the 5 GHz band and your printer is on 2.4 GHz, AirPrint won't find it. Verify both are on the same SSID before troubleshooting anything else.

Step-by-Step AirPrint Setup

1. Connect the Canon printer to Wi-Fi. On most PIXMA models, press the Wi-Fi button on the printer, then use the LAN settings in the printer's menu to select your network and enter the password. The Wi-Fi indicator light will turn solid blue when connected.
2. Open the document or photo on your iPhone that you want to print — this could be in Photos, Safari, Mail, Files, or any app that supports printing.
3. Tap the Share icon (the box with an arrow pointing up) or find the print option in the app's menu.
4. Tap "Print" from the Share sheet.
5. Tap "Printer" at the top of the Printer Options screen. Your iPhone will scan the local network for AirPrint-compatible printers.
6. Select your Canon printer from the list.
7. Adjust settings — number of copies, paper size, color or black-and-white — then tap Print in the upper right corner.

That's it. The first time takes a minute to discover the printer, but subsequent print jobs are nearly instant. Your iPhone remembers the printer, so you won't need to go through the discovery step every time.

Using the Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY App

The Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY app (free on the App Store) gives you considerably more control than AirPrint alone. It supports photo layout printing, borderless photo output, ink level monitoring, cloud printing, and scanning to iPhone — features that AirPrint simply doesn't expose. If you frequently print photos directly from your iPhone's camera roll, this app is worth installing.

Speaking of photo printing quality, our guide on how to print borderless photos at home covers the settings and paper combinations that give the cleanest edge-to-edge results on Canon inkjet printers.

Setting Up the Canon PRINT App

1. Download "Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY" from the App Store. It's free and published by Canon Inc.
2. Open the app and tap the + button to add a printer.
3. The app will search for Canon printers on your Wi-Fi network. Select your printer model when it appears.
4. If the printer isn't found, tap "Search by IP Address" and enter the printer's IP. You can find this in the printer's menu under Network Settings or by printing a network configuration page.
5. Once added, the app displays your printer's ink levels on the home screen — a genuinely useful feature for planning ahead.

Printing Photos from iPhone

1. In the Canon PRINT app, tap Photo Print.
2. Browse your camera roll and select one or more photos.
3. Choose your paper size — 4×6, 5×7, letter, A4, and others are listed depending on your printer model.
4. Toggle Borderless on if you want prints without white borders.
5. Adjust color settings if needed, then tap Print.

The app also lets you print documents from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and Google Drive directly — useful when you don't want to open a separate file manager app first.

Connecting Without a Router Using Wi-Fi Direct

What if you're away from your usual network — at a client's office, a vacation rental, or a location where you simply can't get the printer onto the building's Wi-Fi? That's where Wi-Fi Direct comes in. Canon printers with Wi-Fi Direct create their own access point that your iPhone connects to directly, bypassing the need for any router at all.

We cover this method in full detail in our article on how to print wirelessly without a router using Wi-Fi Direct, but here's the quick version for Canon printers:

1. Enable Wi-Fi Direct on the printer. On most Canon PIXMA models, press and hold the Wi-Fi button for several seconds until the light flashes. Navigate to Wireless LAN setup → Wireless Direct in the printer's LCD menu.
2. The printer will display a SSID (like "DIRECT-xxxx-Canon PIXMA TS") and a password.
3. On your iPhone, go to Settings → Wi-Fi and connect to that SSID using the password shown on the printer.
4. Open any app on your iPhone, tap Share → Print, and select the Canon printer. It will appear because your phone is directly connected to it.

Note that while connected to Wi-Fi Direct, your iPhone won't have internet access through the printer — it's a point-to-point link. Disconnect from the printer's network when you're done to return to your normal internet connection.

Troubleshooting Common Connection Problems

Even with straightforward technology, things occasionally go sideways. Here are the most common issues users encounter when trying to connect a Canon printer to an iPhone, and how to resolve each one.

Printer Not Found on iPhone

• Same network check: Confirm your iPhone and printer share the same Wi-Fi SSID. This is the most frequent cause by far.
• Printer sleep mode: Wake the printer by pressing any button, then retry the print from your iPhone.
• Restart both devices: Power cycle the printer completely (not just standby), then toggle your iPhone's Wi-Fi off and back on.
• Firewall or router isolation: Some routers have "AP isolation" or "client isolation" settings that prevent devices from seeing each other. Log into your router admin panel and disable this if present.
• Firmware update: Outdated printer firmware occasionally causes AirPrint discovery issues. Visit Canon's support site and install the latest firmware for your model.

Print Quality Issues

If you successfully connected but prints look off — faded, streaky, or smeared — that's a separate problem from the connection itself. Our detailed guides on how to fix faded printer output and fixing streaky lines when printing walk through nozzle cleaning, alignment, and cartridge checks step by step. Most Canon printers include a built-in maintenance utility accessible from the printer's control panel or from the Canon PRINT app under the Maintenance tab.

For color accuracy problems specifically — when skin tones look orange or photos print with a green tint — the issue is usually an ICC profile mismatch or an empty color cartridge, both of which are covered in our guide on how to fix a printer printing wrong colors.

Tips for Better iPhone Printing

Once your Canon printer is reliably connected to your iPhone, a few habits will keep the experience smooth and save you money over time.

Choose the Right Paper for the Job

Canon's AirPrint and PRINT app settings include a media type selector. Choosing the correct media type — plain paper, photo paper glossy, matte photo paper — tells the printer how much ink to lay down and at what speed to move the print head. Mismatching media type and actual paper is one of the leading causes of smeared ink on freshly printed pages. Always set the media type in your iPhone's print dialog to match the paper loaded in the tray.

Monitor Ink Levels Proactively

The Canon PRINT app shows ink levels at a glance on its home screen. Check before starting large print jobs. Running a color cartridge dry mid-job doesn't just ruin that print — it can leave dried ink deposits on the print head that require manual cleaning. If ink monitoring matters to you, it's one of the strongest reasons to use the Canon PRINT app rather than AirPrint alone.

Use iCloud for Document Printing

Need to print a PDF you received in email? Save it to your Files app (iCloud Drive) and print directly from there using the Share → Print workflow. This avoids compatibility headaches with third-party email clients that don't always expose a clean Print option.

Reduce Waste with Duplex and Draft Mode

If your Canon printer supports automatic duplex printing, enable it in the print options — it halves your paper consumption for multi-page documents. Switching to draft or economy mode for internal documents that don't need presentation quality can meaningfully extend cartridge life. Sustainable printing practices add up quickly in home office settings; our eco-friendly printing tips article goes deeper on this topic with specific ink and paper recommendations.

Keep the App Updated

Canon updates the PRINT app regularly to add support for new printer models and to fix iOS compatibility issues. Enable automatic updates in the App Store settings so you always have the latest version. If a new iOS update breaks printing — which occasionally happens when Apple revises AirPrint internals — a Canon PRINT app update usually follows within days.

Printing from iPad vs iPhone

The process is identical between iPhone and iPad for both AirPrint and the Canon PRINT app. The larger screen on an iPad makes photo layout selection easier, but the underlying wireless protocols are the same. If you also use an iPad, our dedicated guide on how to print from iPad covers a few iPad-specific tips around split-view printing and PDF annotation workflows.