Customers want to print from their Android phones and tablets. Mopria has developed a print standard to enable Android printing and Mopria technology is now installed on over 1 billion Android devices. Despite all these installations, some Android apps still don’t have the capability to print. So, we are reaching out to Android app developers specifically. We need you to complete the print ecosystem by putting print into your apps. The Mopria Print Standard is designed to help make printing from any computing device easy -- from a traditional PC to a mobile phone -- print just works. End-users just need to look for the Mopria mark to know that they can instantly and easily print without any additional setup or worry. Over 120 million printers and MFPs adhere to the Mopria print standard. And printing solutions designed to work with those Mopria certified devices are included in Android, Windows and Ubuntu Linux operating systems. The shift to working on tablets and smartphones, and growth in data accessed from mobile devices is driving new processes and the need for more efficient mobile printing solutions. According to InfoTrends, 95% of consumers and 67% of business users desire to print from their mobile devices. InfoTrends: "Mobile Devices and the Impact on Print", John Shane, January 2015 Add Value Increase Relevance Promote Differentiation No. To support the Mopria standard, all an Android app developer needs to do is implement printing in their apps using the Printing framework introduced with Android 4.4. See http://developer.android.com/about/ versions/ kitkat.html#44-printing for more information about implementing print in your Android app. Mopria is handling the rest. We certify compliant print devices and we provide technology to handset vendors and to OS providers to work with such devices. Of course, Android app developers are welcome to join the Alliance if they would like to participate and influence the future to the Mopria print standard. The print API is provided by Google, with Android 4.4. See http://developer.android.com/about/versions/kitkat.html#44-printing for a description of printing and how to integrate with the API. Android 4.4 includes native platform support for printing, along with APIs for managing printing and adding new types of printer support. The platform provides a print manager that mediates between apps requesting printing and installed print services that handle print requests. The print manager provides shared services and a system UI for printing, giving users consistent control over printing from any app. The print manager also ensures the security of content as it's passed across processes, from an app to a print service (such as the Mopria Print Service). Android apps can now print any type of content over Wi-Fi, Wi-FI Direct or cloud-hosted services such as Google Cloud Print. In print-enabled apps, users can discover available printers, change paper sizes, choose specific pages to print, and print almost any kind of document, image, or file. There really is not much need, since adding print is easy with the Android 4.4 printing API. However, Mopria would be happy to evaluate your implementation of the print feature or answer any further questions. Contact Mopria at help@mopria.org. There are currently over 3,000 models certified representing over 120 million installations. See http://www.mopria.org/certified-products for the latest list of certified products. Certified brands include: Brother, Canon, Dell, Develop, Epson, Founder, Fuji Xerox, Gestetner, HP, Infotech, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lanier, Lenovo, Lexmark, Marvell, NEC, NRG, Oki , Pantum, Ricoh, Samsung, Seiko Epson, Savin, Sharp, TA Triumph-Adler/UTAX, Toshiba, Xerox and YSoft. Disclaimer: These frequently asked questions are provided to you as an overview of the plans of the Mopria® Alliance, inc. Nothing contained herein may be deemed a representation or warranty that the final plans, membership documents, bylaws, IPR policy or final specifications of Mopria will not change prior to adoption.
An app that includes print functionality has better retention and engagement among its users. They stay in the app 20% longer, are twice as likely to use it again, and are more likely to click on ads, make in-app purchases, and share to other sources.
The ability to print from mobile apps is in demand, and that demand is only growing. Android developers are slowly realizing this. Make sure you’re not the last one to adopt the trend, or risk being the last app users consider downloading.
Since some Android apps are not currently offering print capabilities, you could be one of the first to give users what they truly want.
Android Developer FAQ
