iPhone and Bluetooth printing

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Level 1

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iPhone and Bluetooth printing

Hi

With the latest iPhone OS(4), is bluetooth printing supported?

If not directly from the existing apple apps, but using the SDK/development tools to connect and print (even text format output) to a bluetooth printer?

I have a requirement to develop an app that needs to produce some output to a printer. Will this be possible?

Urfan

iOS 4

Posted on Aug 16, 2010 2:11 AM

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Answer 1

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Aug 16, 2010 2:31 AM in response to Urfan

The iphone OS does not contain any printer drivers, thus printing directly from the phone is not possible.

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Answer 2

Urfan Author

Level 1

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Aug 16, 2010 2:44 AM in response to wjosten

Hello

Thanks for the reply but, Iam not looking to print via the existing apps, like photo/notes etc.., but from my own app.

If a bluetooth connection is possible to a bluetooth 'device' (e.g. a small BT printer) then I would want to send output to the device.
This output could be simple text/ASCII using spaces/tabs to align the data.

In other words, can I connect in a similar fashion to a serial device via BT?

Urfan

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Answer 3

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Aug 16, 2010 2:56 AM in response to Urfan

The problem you have is that the iphone does not support file transfer by bluetooth. Apple would have to completely re-write the OS to permit what you want to do, highly unlikely. All of the printing apps(AFAIK) use a local WiFi connection to enable printing.

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Answer 4

Aug 18, 2010 1:48 AM in response to Urfan

There are some apps in the app store that talk about bluetooth printing of photos on a particular printer. My printer does not support this, so I never looked into it further.

Message was edited by: Gerald Edgar

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Answer 5

modular747

Level 6

19,656 points

Aug 18, 2010 2:07 AM in response to wjosten

File transfer are possible via Bluetooth between iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads using the PAN profile. [File Share|http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/file-share/id327622345?mt=8] can transfer files between these devices as long as all have the app loaded.

BT file transfers to computers or other brands of phones is not possible, neither is printing via BT.

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