disable printing on 1st Gen iPad for autistic child

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Level 1

4 points

disable printing on 1st Gen iPad for autistic child

I would like to know if its possible to completely disable printing from an iPad, specifically a 1st gen iPad. I have an autistic son and he discovered he could print from the photos app. Not great when he chooses 99 copies and they are all full page edge to edge color prints. I was able to disable AirPrint on my printer (HP Office Jet 6958) but that only disabled all our other apple devices and not the 1st gen iPad. It still had the option to print. So I disabled wifi completely on the printer and that turned off the ability to print from the 1st gen iPad - but from any other device as well. So now we have to plug in our MacBook via USB to print.

Its a stop gap solution but I would really like to just disable printing completely from the 1st gen iPad. If we visit relatives and they have AirPrint or wifi printing at their house, he will likely try to print 99 copies again. Not to mention I don't want to have to plug in a USB to print.

iPad

Posted on May 18, 2020 3:52 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Lyssa

Level 8

41,387 points

May 18, 2020 7:12 PM in response to Canon Man

I think QuickPost is right in that case; many of the restrictions/additional security options either don't work well for the iPad 1 or don't work at all. That is likely why disabling Airprint in your home didn't help.

Some non-iPad fixes to consider:

1) At your home, there's some "monkeying" with your networks you could try. I could help you dig into that if you'd like.

2) Avoid connecting his iPad to someone else's wifi. Consider either using your phone's hotspot feature, or buying a separate hotspot of some kind through your carrier for internet access on his device.

3) Ask whoever you are visiting to remove paper from their printer when they come over. And then a reminder to check for unfinished jobs that they should delete before using it.

That iPad 1 will eventually die and repairing/replacing it won't be worthwhile. As long as you're OK with that, let's see if we can find some workarounds.

~Lyssa

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Answer 2

QuickPost

Level 10

103,401 points

May 18, 2020 4:09 PM in response to Canon Man

Hello,

Unfortunately it is not possible to disable printing on an iPad (1st generation). Newer iPad models allow for the ability to hide the printing Action in the share sheet. One way you may work around this would be to purchase another Wi-Fi router and create a separate Wi-Fi network that would be exclusively used by his iPad. Since your printer would not be connected to this Wi-Fi network, his iPad would not be able to discover it and thus would not be able to print to it.

You can find Apple’s AirPort Express, which is a low cost router that was recently discontinued, on a website like eBay for reasonably low prices. You would then use an ethernet lead to connect this router to your primary router. You would then set the AirPort up as it’s own network. His iPad would still have the full benefits of the internet.