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Google Cloud Print was a disaster. I could get it to work properly maybe 20% of the time, even with Android devices using the app and Chromebooks. A favorite bug involved a simple print job from one of my kid's Chromebook causing a Brother printer to "print" a blank piece of paper for every sheet remaining in the main tray.

By comparison, AirPrint just worked, quickly recognizing new printers from new devices and running jobs pretty much flawlessly.




Just an FYI, I was recently able to get my kids' Chromebook to print to my local Brother (network) printer using these instructions: https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comments/7n3jc1/setting_up...

It uses IPP so no extra software or intermediary needed - the print jobs are sent directly to the printer.


To print to an AirPrint printer over LAN from Android, one needs to install the Google Cloud Print apk from Play Store. (I witnessed just this week that it didn't work on a newly set up Android One device running Android 9 before installing Cloud Print from Play Store.)

With the cloud part of Cloud Print gone, will Google continue to provide the AirPrint-compatible Android software so that Android users won't have to install software from printer vendors like Windows users have to?


No.


AirPrint made up for what Google failed in execution. Cloud Print was a great feature when it worked but unfortunately, it was always a bumpy ride.




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