Canon Canada Inc. has rolled out a new mobile app, giving users the ability to scan a printer job directly into their iPhones and iPads.
Available only for Apple iOS for now, the imaging company is calling its new app the “Canon Mobile Scanning for Business App,” and it’s compatible with a select group of its desktop laser multifunction printers. The list includes the MF4770n/MF4880dw/MF4890dw, MF5950dw/MF5960dn, MF6160dw/MF6180dw, MF8280Cw/MF8580Cdw and D1350.
After doing a search for printers in wireless broadcast range, the app will save them automatically so users can easily track them down in the future. Users can also manually type in a printer’s Internet Protocol address, and they can easily switch between listed printers within the app. They will then be able to scan print jobs as either jpeg files or as PDFs, and they’ll be able to customize the scan resolution, paper size, file format, colour mode, and two-sided scanning right from the app.
Once users scan in a print job with the app, they can save it to their Camera Roll on the iPhone or iPad, or they can attach it to an email address to share the file with their co-workers. They’re also able to open it using other iOS apps, or to combine the scan job with the Canon Mobile Printing app.
The app is compatible with iOS 5.1 or later. It works with the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5C, the iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S, and the iPhone 4, as well as the iPad 4, the iPad 3, the iPad 2, the original iPad, and the iPad Mini. It’s available as a free download and is now live in the Apple iTunes store.
Canon isn’t the only company to try to bridge the divide between the mobile device and the printer.
In October 2013, Hewlett-Packard Co. announced it was launching the HP 1200 W, a mobile printing accessory that plugs into printers and allows users to simply tap their near-field communication (NFC)-enabled mobile device to it to print any document saved to that device.