Connecting your Printer, iPad, and internet all together

There are different ways to connect your iPad & printer together. The important thing is that your iPad is connected to your printer AND the internet at the same time, so that guests can print & share booth photos via email and text. This article shows you how to do this.

We don't discuss USB-cameras here because they connect directly to the iPad via USB. Learn more about connecting a USB camera.

Wired is better than wifi

"Ethernet" is wired networking - the cables look like the one in the photo below. Because Apple doesn't support direct USB printing, the next best thing is printing over ethernet: faster, more reliable, and not affected by interference or congested airwaves.

The easiest way to give your USB-C iPad the ability to use ethernet is to connect a USB-C hub that has an ethernet port - we recommend the Dockteck 7-in-1 hub with ethernet. If you have an older lightning-port iPad you can buy an Apple adapter that creates an ethernet port and allows the iPad to be powered, but this rules out connecting a USB camera so instead we recommend upgrading your iPad to a USB-C model.

READ FIRST: Which section is for you?

There are multiple sections in this article - each explaining a different setup. You only need to read one section. Let's figure out which section is for you!

A. You have an Aircast Pro, DNP WCM, or other print server device that connects via USB to your printer

If you have an AirPrint-compatible print server device that's connected to your printer with USB, then you have multiple options on how to connect your devices together so that your iPad still has internet access. This section will explain them.

B. You have a printer that supports AirPrint & has wifi / ethernet

Use this section if you have any AirPrint printer that has wifi/ethernet directly on the printer itself. A printer is AirPrint-enabled if you can print to it directly from the Apple Photos app. An example of a printer like this is the Canon Selphy line of printers.

C. Your printer does not support AirPrint

Use this section if your printer doesn't support AirPrint, ie. you cannot print to it from the Apple Photos app.

A. You have an Aircast Pro, DNP WCM, or other print server device that connects via USB to your printer

You have two different options for connecting your iPad & printer together with internet access:

A1. (Recommended) Connect your iPad to the print server via ethernet, and use wifi or cellular data for internet access

A2. Connect your iPad to your print server via wifi; for internet use cellular data, or the print server shares its internet connection

A1. (Recommended) Connect your iPad to the print server via ethernet, and use wifi or cellular data for internet access

First connect your iPad's wifi to whatever wifi access point will give it internet access, for example your mobile phone's hotspot. If you have cellular data on your iPad and want to use that, skip this step.

Next, connect your iPad's ethernet port (via USB-C hub or adapter) to your print server device (DNP WCM, AirCast Pro, etc).

Check that your iPad's ethernet settings are correct:

Settings App -> Ethernet -> (your adapter name) -> Configure IP should be set to "Automatic"

If you have an advanced setup that requires a manual ethernet setup and you are a DNP WCM Plus user, please note that confusingly you must use an IP address on the 192.168.5.x subnet, even though the admin interface of the WCM Plus is at 192.168.4.1.

AirCast Pro II

Here's a video showing the connections for the AirCast Pro II, using ethernet via a USB-C hub. The video also covers how to do the initial configuration of the AirCast Pro II, including changing paper sizes / cuts.

DNP WCM Plus

Here's a video showing the connections for the DNP WCM Plus, using ethernet via a USB-C hub. The video also covers how to do the initial configuration of the WCM Plus, including changing paper sizes / cuts.

If you can't access the internet after connecting to your print server

Newer print servers like the AirCast Pro II and DNP WCM Plus do not have this problem, but older units like the DNP WCM2 or WCM3 do: even though your wifi is connected to the internet, the iPad doesn't have internet access because it's trying to use the internet over the ethernet instead.

Don't worry, there's a workaround! Check out the instructions in this article to change the configuration of your ethernet network (Settings App -> Ethernet, which is only available when the USB-C hub or adapter is plugged in).

A2. Connect your iPad to your print server via wifi; for internet use cellular data, or the print server shares its internet connection

First connect your iPad's wifi to the print server device.

Got Cellular Data?

Then if you have cellular data, check if you can access the internet. If not then you need to tell your iPad to stop trying to get internet access via wifi. To do this, follow the instructions in this article to change the configuration of your wifi network.

Nope, no Cellular Data?

Otherwise if you don't have cellular data, then you need to configure your print server device to share the internet with the iPad. This requires your print server device to be connected to the internet, usually by making its own outgoing wifi connection.

To do this, first tell your print server device to make an outgoing wifi connection to get internet access, so it can share the internet connection to your iPad. It's best to use your mobile phone hotspot as the source of internet, since the name of its wifi access point doesn't change.

How to configure the DNP WCM2 unit to make an outgoing wifi connection for internet access

1. Power up the WCM2 and connect your iPad's wifi to it (this will be automatic after you have done it once)
2. Open Safari on your iPad and type in 192.168.4.1
3. Open Network Settings, Wi-Fi Connection, pick the wifi network, enter the password, and connect:

Once that's connected, test if it is working: on your iPad verify that you are connected to the WCM2's wifi hotspot, and now in Safari try opening a website like booth.events - if it loads it's working!

B. You have a printer that supports AirPrint & has wifi / ethernet networking

This section will help you get your iPad connected to your AirPrint-enabled printer while being connected to the internet.

Got Cellular Data?

Connect the iPad wifi to the printer. Then check if you can access the internet. If not then you need to tell your iPad to stop trying to get internet access via wifi. To do this, follow the instructions in this article to change the configuration of your wifi network.

Nope, no Cellular Data?

In this case you need to connect your printer and iPad to the same network that also provides internet connectivity. To be able to do this your printer needs to support making an outgoing wifi connection (or in the rare case your printer has wired networking, connect via ethernet to the network).

To create the network you can use a router that has a SIM card in it, or your mobile phone's hotspot to provide the network. We recommend using your mobile phone's hotspot.

Connect the printer's wifi to your mobile phone's hotspot (or whatever you used to create your network). Then, connect your iPad's wifi to the same wifi your printer connected to.

The Canon Selphy series of printers can make outgoing wifi connections and works well in this setup: using the touchscreen on the printer, instruct it to connect to the hotspot on your mobile phone, then connect your iPad to the hotspot also.

C. Your Printer does not support AirPrint

If your printer doesn't support AirPrint you have two options: buy a dedicated hardware device like the AirCast Pro to share the printer and use section A above, or, use a spare Mac or PC computer to share the printer.

(Not Recommended) Using a Mac or PC to share the printer via AirPrint

Connect your printer to your computer, and first make sure your computer can print successfully to the printer.

Then, install third-party software to share the printer via AirPrint:

• PC: O'Print, a one-time payment of $19.99 at the time of writing, with a 30-day free trial
• Mac: Printopia, a one-time payment of $19.99 at the time of writing, with a "try before you buy" free trial

Please note that when using this approach you must set up printing in the Booth.Events app as iOS-managed, which means the iOS print popup will be shown every time you print. This is why we do not recommend this approach.