Canon PRINT

Review by eFreeware

Most printer apps try to be a general-purpose print utility. Canon PRINT does the opposite: it is built for one brand's hardware and little else. It is a companion app for Canon printers, and Canon itself recommends pairing it with a Canon machine. That narrowness is the point, and it is the first thing to weigh if you are deciding whether to install it.

If you own a supported Canon printer, this is the app the manufacturer points you toward. The app is free. Over 50 million installs and a 4.5 average across a large body of ratings suggest a lot of Canon owners keep it on their phones.

The everyday jobs: printing, scanning and ink levels

The core of the app is the two tasks most people actually need from a phone: printing and scanning. The developer describes it as covering both, which means a document, a photo or a page you have just captured can go straight to the printer without a computer in the middle. Scanning works the other way, pulling a page off the machine and into the phone.

The second job is upkeep. Canon PRINT reports consumable levels, so you can see where ink or toner stands before a job rather than midway through one. That is a small feature, but it is the sort of thing that saves a wasted trip and a wasted sheet of paper.

The third is cloud printing, which the developer lists as one of the app's handy functions. The appeal is straightforward: a file that lives online can be sent to the printer without first being downloaded and opened on the phone. For anyone who works across devices, that removes a step.

What ties these together is that they are all remote-control tasks. The phone is the interface; the printer does the work. Nothing in the app changes what the hardware can do, it just makes the hardware easier to reach.

Which Canon printers it covers

The supported list is long and split into three families. On the inkjet side it covers the PIXMA TS, TR, MG, MX, G, E, GM, PRO, MP, iP and iX series, the MAXIFY MB, iB, GX and BX series, and the imagePROGRAF PRO, TM, TA, TX, TZ, GP and TC lines. Laser users are covered too, through imageFORCE, imagePRESS, imageRUNNER ADVANCE, Color imageRUNNER, imageRUNNER, Satera, imageCLASS, imageCLASS X, i-SENSYS and i-SENSYS X.

Compact photo printers are included as well: the SELPHY CP900 series, CP910, CP1200, CP1300 and CP1500. The developer notes that some models fall outside the list, so it is worth confirming your exact machine before you count on a feature.

There is also a regional caveat. Certain functions and services may not be available depending on the printer, the country or region, and the environment. That is standard for hardware companion apps, but it means two people with the same model in different places may not see the same options.

One specific technical note stands out: Ad Hoc printing is not an option on the SELPHY CP900, so that model has to use Infrastructure mode instead. If you have an older compact photo printer, that detail matters before you start troubleshooting.

Setting up a printer from the phone

Setup is the first thing the app handles, and it is the reason many people install it at all. Rather than configuring a new printer from a computer, you can do it from the phone in your hand. For a household that bought a printer and wants it on the wireless network the same afternoon, that is the shortest path.

The practical requirement is a Canon printer, ideally one from the supported list, plus a phone. Canon recommends using the app with a Canon printer, which is as clear a statement of scope as you will get from a hardware maker. Beyond that, the app is free to download.

Because setup and printing are handled in the same place, the app doubles as the place you return to when something needs checking. That is a reasonable design for a companion tool, and it explains why it stays installed after the initial configuration is done.

Where the app's limits show

Feature parity across such a wide hardware catalog is hard to guarantee, and the app does not pretend otherwise.

The app is free, which is a fair trade for a utility you may only open when you need to print, but it is worth knowing before you install rather than after.

The third is the focus itself. This is a Canon-only tool. It does not aim to manage a mixed-brand office, and it does not try to be a general document workflow app. It does one job for one ecosystem.

Finally, the supported-model list has exceptions, and older compact photo printers have their own mode requirement. Anyone with an unusual or very old machine should check the list before assuming everything will work.

Who gets the most from it

The clearest fit is a household or small office that already owns a supported Canon printer. Setup, printing, scanning, consumable checks and cloud jobs all live in one place, and the phone becomes a remote for hardware you already have. That is a tidy arrangement for anyone who prints occasionally and does not want to boot a laptop to do it.

Photographers and craft users with a SELPHY compact photo printer are another natural group, since those models are explicitly covered. So are people running a MAXIFY or imageCLASS machine in a small business, where checking toner before a print run has obvious value.

The app has been on the store since 2013 and was updated in September 2026, with the latest changes described as improvements to some functions. That continuity is reassuring for a utility tied to hardware you expect to keep for years.

If your printer is not a Canon, or not on the supported list, the app has nothing to offer you, and the developer's own recommendation makes that clear.

A companion worth keeping for Canon owners

Canon PRINT is a focused utility that does the jobs Canon printer owners actually need: setting up a machine, printing, scanning, checking consumables and sending cloud jobs.

My recommendation is straightforward. If you do not, there is no reason to bother, and no reason to expect it to manage anything outside the Canon catalog. For the audience it is written for, it looks like the right tool.

What's new

Some functions have been improved.