How to setup AirPrint with any Printer

With the release of iOS 4.2 Apple allowed wireless printing from a number of apps on the iPad & iPhone. This meant, that with a compatible printer, you could print a document, email etc directly from your iPhone/iPad over a WiFi network. The problem came in, where only a small number of printers had this feature enabled, and currently they are all (15 of them) only HP printers.

From the Apple iOS AirPrint page:

AirPrint on iPad makes it simple to print your email, photos, web pages, and documents. There’s no software to download, no drivers to install, and no cables to connect. With just a few taps on your iPad, you can go from viewing something onscreen to holding a printed copy. And because all the printing takes place in the background, there’s no waiting around. Instead, you can start printing and then go back to flicking through photos, surfing the web, or doing whatever you were doing before.

I came across an awesome little app, which is available for both Mac & Windows, that “spoofs” your printer into allowing you to “think” it is a compatible printer, and allows you to print from your iPhone or iPad to ANY printer. The app is called AirPrint Activator (Mac download/Windows Download), and works as simply as running the app/exe and sharing & activating your printer. Really, as simple as that.

Here is a short video that shows how to do it.

Easy. I have tested it on my deskjet printer at home, and it works like a charm !! Now you can print from an iPhone to ANY printer :)