AirPrint not working after iOS 17 Update

I updated my iphone yesterday. I wanted to print an email I received from Gmail. When I tried to print I received the message "no AirPrint Printers Found"


[Re-titled by Moderator]

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Sep 19, 2023 1:33 PM

Reply
Question marked as Apple recommended

Do the following, i this order:

  • Turn off the printer
  • Turn off your phone
  • Turn off your router for 15 seconds
  • Turn on your router
  • Turn on your phone and wait for it to connect to Wi-Fi
  • Turn on the printer


This should restart the BonJour network that manages printer connectivity.


Note that is probably just one of these that needs to be done, but figuring out which one will take longer than just doing them all.


Both my iPhone and iPad have iOS 17 and they both still print.

Posted on Sep 19, 2023 6:16 PM

97 replies

Oct 25, 2023 6:00 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

That link does not confirm any bugs. It explains why one specific app doesn’t work. And I’m waiting for you to explain why it is not a problem for millions of users (including me) if it is a bug.
  1. Not everyone prints from their mobile devices.
  2. Not everyone cares if they can.
  3. The only proof you have of "Millions" is the few people you have here that managed to get it working.
  4. From the link: "We've confirmed that this issue is a result of a change Apple introduced in iOS 17 and that it is not something we can fix on our end." = Apple bug.
  5. The fact that link is the only confirmation, confirms 1, 2, 3.


So after lobbing it back to me I'll lob it back to you, where do you get the idea that it is working for "Millions of users"? Better yet, why do we not need to do all this restarting on 16 and earlier, and why does a config. profile not provide a workaround?


It is a bug, if the restarts do not work, then short of re-installing 16, the ability to print from 17 is lost.

Oct 25, 2023 6:03 PM in response to xploraiswakco

Millions of users: Because if millions of users have any specific problem there will be thousands of posts about it and articles in all of the major trade press sites.


As you can’t go back to iOS 16 if you spent time troubleshooting rather than wasting time explaining why you can’t troubleshoot you can almost certainly fix it.


BTW, have you updated to iOS 17.1, released today? And have you deleted VPN profiles?

Oct 25, 2023 6:15 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Millions of users: Because if millions of users have any specific problem there will be thousands of posts about it and articles in all of the major trade press sites.

That just translates as millions of people do not bother printing from their mobiles devices, would you like to try again?


As you can’t go back to iOS 16 if you spent time troubleshooting rather than wasting time explaining why you can’t troubleshoot you can almost certainly fix it.

Not if you intend to restore from backup, but unless it's an iPhone 15 (Pro (Max)), rewinding is possible. and I have daily, it doesn't work, and why on earth would you think trying an AirPrint Config. Profile isn't troubleshooting. Seriously, wow.


BTW, have you updated to iOS 17.1, released today? And have you deleted VPN profiles?

Updated, yes, deleted VPN profiles, can't even try that, as I don't have any to start with.


Again, why is restarting not required for 16 & older, why does the config profile workaround not help?


I'll give you this, the config. profile option bypasses the auto-discovery part of the process, this means even if the printer is unreachable, it should still show as a print option, yet doesn't, this puts the problem squarely on the device, and I've tried all of this on a freshly wiped device, and it still doesn't appear, that tells me it is a bug that Apple need to fix.

Oct 25, 2023 6:43 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

• Do the following, i this order:
Turn off the printer
• Turn off your phone
• Turn off your router for 15 seconds
• Turn on your router
• Turn on your phone and wait for it to connect to Wi-Fi
• Turn on the printer

This should restart the BonJour network that manages printer connectivity.

Note that is probably just one of these that needs to be done, but figuring out which one will take longer than just doing them all.

Both my iPhone and iPad have iOS 17 and they both still print.

For everyone where these instructions haven't worked, or they are impossible to follow (such as workplace):

  1. This is a confirmed bug in iOS/iPadOS 17, Apple have changed something that is breaking the ability to print, and Apple are working on a fix.
  2. If it is possible to try again, please do, two or three times more.
  3. Where it is not possible, or the above does not help, all we can do is wait for Apple to fix the bug.
  4. Until then, use workarounds, i.e. use a computer, or at a workplace, find what other options they have for a workaround, for example, we have a web print service, some printers even provide their own webprint service, so check out what other capabilities the printer might have.

Oct 26, 2023 4:26 AM in response to xploraiswakco

To start with: I'm not intending to say that the cause of this problem is due this or this. I only want the iOS users where I work to be able to print the way they was able before 17 and to know what has caused the problem not how to "make it to away".


I have read the 5 step "turn it off and on again solution" and I have read that it seem to work on some devices in some networks.


When a solution to a problem is to "turn it off and on" the problem is doomed to come back until the actual cause is fixed. This might work in a SOHO environment but not in larger organisations where the device count on both iOS/IpadOS devices and printers it counted in hundreds or thousands.


I wan't to add one thing that I've made in a quest to find what's the cause of this.


We have thousands of client devices and >1000 iPads in the organization where I work and we immediately blocked upgrade to iOS/iPadOS 17 when we understood that AirPrint stopped working after upgrading to 17.x.


I have tried to get iPads back to 16 but so far the only model that I could do it with has been with iPad gen 6.


Result: AirPrint worked like before when they did run on 16. Nothing was done on printers (server handled, not SOHO devices), router (large firewall), DNS'es or any other parts of the network. Just downgraded the devices to 16.


I just did the following on one iPad 6 gen:


Running on 16.7.2: AirPrint printers visible.

Restore from 16.7.2 to 17.1 via DFU - result: No AirPrint printers visible.

Restore from 17.1 to 16.7.2 via DFU - result: AirPrint printers visible.

Restore from 16.7.2 to 17.1 via DFU - result: No AirPrint printers visible.

Restore from 17.1 to 16.7.2 via DFU - result: AirPrint printers visible.


No other changes in the network environment was made.


How many times shall this be performed back and forth to get statistics if AirPrint works or not until this is seen as something that was introduced / changed (maybe not a real bug) in 17 since the problem isn't in 16.7.2 but in 17.x.?




As I wrote in the beginning I'm not on a quest to whine about this or that. I just wan't my users to be able to use AirPrint as before 17.x

Nov 1, 2023 4:15 PM in response to xploraiswakco

xploraiswakco wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

• Do the following, i this order:
Turn off the printer
• Turn off your phone
• Turn off your router for 15 seconds
• Turn on your router
• Turn on your phone and wait for it to connect to Wi-Fi
• Turn on the printer

This should restart the BonJour network that manages printer connectivity.

Note that is probably just one of these that needs to be done, but figuring out which one will take longer than just doing them all.

Both my iPhone and iPad have iOS 17 and they both still print.
1. For everyone where these instructions haven't worked, or they are impossible to follow (such as workplace):
This is a confirmed bug in iOS/iPadOS 17, Apple have changed something that is breaking the ability to print, and Apple are working on a fix.
2. If it is possible to try again, please do, two or three times more.
3. Where it is not possible, or the above does not help, all we can do is wait for Apple to fix the bug.
4. Until then, use workarounds, i.e. use a computer, or at a workplace, find what other options they have for a workaround, for example, we have a web print service, some printers even provide their own webprint service, so check out what other capabilities the printer might have.

Apple are working on a fix, as the issue is fixed in the Developer Beta 17.2, Papercut has more information.

AirPrint not working after iOS 17 Update

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