The Best Ways to Print Photos From Your Smartphone

February 12, 2015 11:23 AM EST

One of the best cameras is the one you have with you — and for most of us, that camera is your smartphone. But unless you’re meticulously sharing and backing up your photos online, most of them are probably languishing in your smartphone’s digital archives.

Free your photos from the shackles of your smartphone with services and hardware that make it easy to print your photos professionally (for shipping directly to you), on the go or at home. We’ve rounded up our favorite, easy ways to print photos from your smartphone.

Order professional prints with an app

Most photo developers today print smartphone pictures. Apps such as Kicksend and Snapfish let you order prints for pickup at retailers such as Walgreens. Even more streamlined photo services let you order prints from your smartphone for delivery to your home within a couple of days. Send photos from your smartphone to one of our favorite print services to get lab-quality prints without leaving the house or shelling out for your own printer.

PrintStudio

This sleek, intuitive app takes care of printing pictures as well as photo books, greeting cards and other photo products from your phone camera or Instagram account. Ordering prints is a simple matter of choosing exactly the size of photo you want, from a set of photo strips to a 54-image poster, and then picking the best of your snaps.

You can print photos in several unusual sizes, including 4″ x 4″ squares, 2″ x 2″ mini-squares and business-card-sized prints, as well as standard formats including 4″ x 6″ and 8″ x 10″ prints and 20″ x 30″ posters (probably best for owners of uber-high-megapixel phones like the iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung Galaxy S5). Send prints anywhere in the world. (Last-minute long-distance present, anyone?)

The app makes it easy to order unique frames and displays, including a reclaimed Santa Cruz block frame or multi-picture wooden and concrete displays.

Price: Free at Google Play and iTunes

Prints: $12 for 24 square prints; $15 for 24 4″ x 6″ prints; $10 for a set of nine photo strips (36 pictures); more prices at PrintStudio

Shipping: $6 by FedEx and DHL; $12 international shipping; free shipping for U.S. orders over $50

Speed: 3-10 working days

Editing capabilities: None aside from cropping or shifting pictures to fit inside the print size

Best for: Interesting frames and unique prints (the mini-squares and 4″ x 4″ squares are particularly cute for Instagram images)

PHOTOS: The Rise of Mobile Phones from 1916 to Today

**1916** A German field telephone station in the Aisne department of northern France during World War I.Paul Thompson—FPG/Getty Images

**1970** French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday in a scene from the film 'Point de Chute' (aka 'Falling Point').Keystone/Holton/Getty Images

**1980** An early mobile phone during the Iranian Embassy siege at Princes Gate in South Kensington, London.Kypros/Getty Images

Bob Maxwell, general manager of Englewood-based Mobile Telephone of Colorado, places a call on FCC-approved radio frequency while driving to work. — **1983** Bob Maxwell, general manager of Englewood-based Mobile Telephone of Colorado, places a call on an FCC-approved radio frequency while driving to work.Lyn Alweis—Denver Post/Getty Images

THE A-TEAM -- "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" Episode 5. (l-r) Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana, Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell, George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith. — **1986** THE A-TEAM "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" Episode 5. (l-r) Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana, Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell, George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith.Bill Dow—NBC/Getty Images

Bill Clinton, Ray Flynn — **1992** Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton talks on a cell phone while meeting with Boston Mayor Ray Flynn in a New York hotel on Sept. 25.Mark Lennihan—AP

**1993** Whoopi Goldberg during ShoWest in Las Vegas.Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images

**1997** A farmer with his family sitting on a Bullock Cart and talking on a mobile Phone, in Delhi.India Today Group/Getty Images

World Trade Center Terrorist Attack. — **2001** A woman watches smoke pour out of the World Trade Center Towers in New York on September 11.Nicholas Goldberg—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

A rebel militiaman speaks on his mobile phone after capturing territory from government troops on March 25 2 in Ben Jawat, Libya. — **2011** A rebel militiaman speaks on his mobile phone after capturing territory from government troops on March 25 in Ben Jawat, Libya. John Moore—Getty Images

**2011** A youth films the aftermath of tear gas police fired at protestors in Muhammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square on November 23 in Cairo.Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images

**2012** Audience members take pictures of President Barack Obama at Florida Atlantic University on April 10 in Boca Raton, Florida. Marc Serota—Getty Images

**2014** A teenager takes a selfie in front of Queen Elizabeth II during a walk around St. Georges Market in Belfast. The Queen has apparently voiced her dismay that when she carries out engagements she is greeted by a sea of mobile phones.Peter Macdiarmid—PA Wire/Press Association Images/AP

FreePrints (Android / iOS / Windows Phone)

FreePrints is an offshoot of online photo printing shop Photo Affections, which perhaps explains why it can offer 85 free 4″ x 6″ prints per month. This streamlined app is an easy way to print photos from your phone camera as well as Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, Flickr, Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive. One click from the home interface takes you to a photo selection page for uploading and ordering prints, which can arrive as quickly as within two days.

You can order square prints for Instagram shots as well as 5″ x 7″, 8″ x 10″ and larger prints at an additional cost. If you use an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, pay for orders instantly using Apple Pay. Photos are printed on lab-quality paper from Kodak and Fujifilm, with an matte finish.

Price: Free from Google Play, iTunes, and Windows Store

Prints: Free for 4″ x 6″ prints (up to 85 per month or 1,000 per year); from $0.49 each for 5″ x 5″ prints

Shipping: $1.99 to $9.99; $1.00 more for two-day shipping; free shipping the first time you use the app

Speed: Four to six days; two working days for express shipping

Editing capabilities: Minimal; cropping, black-and-white filter

Best for: Low-cost, high-quality prints

Hipstamatic (iOS)

Remember the big kid on the block pre-Instagram? Hipstamatic and its vintage camera interface offer lenses, flashes and filters to create hundreds of old-school effects for your new-school pictures. The app links to its own print lab service so that you can order square prints of those analog-looking digital photos in sizes from 4″ x 4″ to 10″ x 10″ and 30″ x 30″ formats.

We love the reusable packaging, which doubles as a self-supporting frame for one picture. Pictures are printed on high-quality archival paper from Fujifilm. Share pictures to the usual lineup of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and Tumblr.

Price: $2.99 from iTunes

Prints: $4.99 for nine square 4″ x 4″ prints, $49.99 for nine 10″ x 10″ prints; more prices on site

Shipping: From $2

Speed: 3-10 days

Editing capabilities: Abundant; preloaded effects to tweak color, saturation, exposure and more, downloadable packages of “looks” such as the Williamsburg Hisptapack or Foodie Histapack ($1.49 each)

Best for: Artsy photo prints and Instagram-esque editing

Print on the go with a portable smartphone printer

Pull out one of these printers during your next vacation and instantly print anyone’s smartphone photos for hard-copy keepsakes.

Fujifilm Instax Share SP-1 (Android and iOS)

This book-sized printer from the current king of instant cameras uses the same film and printing technology as the Fujifilm Instax Mini line. It connects via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to your smartphone, with an app for selecting and printing photos to a roll of instax mini film.

The app lets you add black-and-white or sepia filters, as well as templates for text and graphics and “Real Time” details such as dates, location, time and weather. Prints have that slight vintage blur; if you’re looking for fine detail, you may want to consider a desktop printer instead.

The SP-1 runs on flat-cell CR-2 batteries with a lifetime of about 100 prints before the batteries need to be replaced.

Price: $155.63 from Amazon

Prints: $18.37 for 20 sheets at Amazon

Speed: 16 seconds per print

Editing capabilities: Black-and-white or sepia filters in the Fujifilm app, templates for personalized text and greeting cards

Best for: Printing photos on the go

LifePrint (Android and iOS)

This wireless photo printer includes its own social network, allowing you to send photos from your smartphone to your friend’s LifePrint printer (or, of course, your own). Once the printer is online via your home wireless network, your smartphone can link up from anywhere in the world to print pictures off its camera roll, including additional saved pics such as Whatsapp-sent photos or Instagram-edited pics. The LifePrint is about the size of an iPad and prints only 3″ x 4″ photos.

Price: $199.99 at LifePrint Photos and shops, from April

Prints: $19.99 for 30 prints

Speed: 60 seconds per print

Editing capabilities: Minimal; add text to photos, tweak the size of the border

Best for: Sending printed photos as easily as digital photos

Print at Home with a desktop printer

Printing your photos at home can not only work out cheaper, but far more convenient. If you’re looking for pro-quality home prints, dedicated photo printers can handle ultra-high resolutions and fine color detail, while standard models still offer decent picture quality at an affordable price.

Canon Pixma iP8720

Forget the four-cartridge ink system on your old home printer; the Pixma iP8720 sports a six-ink system including an individual grey ink for extra-fine color and gradation in black-and-white prints. It connects over Wi-Fi as well as Google Cloud Print and Apple AirPrint, making it easy for any device to link up and print.

The printer uses an Android/iOS app to select photos from a smartphone or tablet for batch printing. Print resolution goes as high as 9600 dpi with photo sizes up to 13″ x 19″.

Price: $299.99 from Canon

Prints: From $7 for 100 sheets of 4″ x 6″ glossy paper; $113 for a set of six ink cartridges (PDF) ($0.48 or less per print)

Speed: About 35 seconds per smartphone photo, 1 minute or more for larger prints

Editing capabilities: None

Best for: Professional-quality home photos

HP Envy 5660

If you simply want to print photos for personalized cards or family albums, a multifunction inkjet printer like the Envy 5660 produces good clarity and color, especially with smaller prints. It can connect to any smartphone over Wi-Fi via the HP app, while Apple AirPrint support lets you print directly from iPhones without an app.

Photos can be printed in sizes up to A4, with a dedicated paper tray for 4″ x 6″ prints. If you regularly print photos, buy the Envy 5660 with an HP Instant Ink subscription plan that gets you 50 prints per month for $2.99, with HP connecting to your printer to send new cartridges when you’re running low.

Price: $110 from Amazon

Prints: From $7 for 100 sheets of 4″ x 6″ glossy paper; $80 for a set of high-yield ink cartridges (about $0.27 a print, $0.13 if you subscribe to Instant Ink)

Speed: About 45 seconds per 4″ x 6″ photo

Editing capabilities: None

Best for: Affordable home photo printing

An all-in-one option

Polaroid Socialmatic

Love instant cameras but feel nervous about getting the shot right first time? This Android-powered digital camera is pimped out with Polaroid picture-printing technology so that you can pick the pictures you want to print and store the rest in its 4GB of internal memory. (You can also expand the storage by popping in an SD card.)

The camera clocks in at 14 megapixels with an LED flash and a 4.5-inch touchscreen display for selecting and editing photos. There’s a 2-megapixel front camera for the obligatory selfies, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect with smartphones to print photos and share them online.

Photos are printed out on 2″ x 3″ zero ink paper, which despite the high megapixel count of the camera lens produces that cloudy, old-timey effect on pictures. Each print is adhesive-backed, so you can stick the credit card-sized pics anywhere you please.

Price: $299.99 from Amazon from Feb. 1

Prints: $25 for 50 prints from Amazon

Speed: Under a minute

Editing capabilities: Add color filters and moody effects on the touchscreen

Best for: Vintage-style photos printed the old-school Polaroid way

What’s your favorite way to print photos from your smartphone? Let us know in the comments, and tell us if we’ve missed your go-to.