HP Smart Can't Find Your Printer? Try These Fixes

HP Smart is the easiest way to set up and print to an HP printer from a phone — when it can see the printer. When it cannot, the cause is almost always the network or a phone permission, not the printer. Work through these in order; most people are printing by step 3.

1. Same network, and the 2.4 GHz band

The phone and printer must be on the same Wi-Fi network. Many routers broadcast two networks (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, sometimes with '5G' in the name), and many HP printers — including most entry models — only support 2.4 GHz. If your phone is on the 5 GHz network during setup, HP Smart may not find the printer. Connect the phone to the 2.4 GHz network, set up the printer, then you can switch back.

2. Turn on Location and Bluetooth (Android)

Android only lets apps scan for nearby Wi-Fi devices with Location turned on and the app allowed to use it. Newer HP printers also use Bluetooth to hand over Wi-Fi details during setup. Turn on Location and Bluetooth, open Settings → Apps → HP Smart → Permissions, and allow Location and Nearby devices.

3. Restart in the right order

Switch off the printer, restart the router, wait until the internet is back, then switch the printer on, then reopen HP Smart. Printers that lost power during load-shedding sometimes rejoin the network before the router is ready and end up disconnected.

4. Avoid guest networks and client isolation

Guest Wi-Fi networks and routers with 'AP isolation' or 'client isolation' switched on stop devices from seeing each other. Connect both phone and printer to the main network, or turn isolation off in the router settings.

5. Switch off the phone's VPN

A VPN routes the phone's traffic elsewhere, so it cannot see devices on your local network. Turn it off while setting up and printing.

6. Check the printer is still on Wi-Fi

Print a configuration or network page from the printer (from its menu, or by holding its Information or Resume button on screenless models). It shows whether the printer is connected, to which network, and its IP address. If it is not connected, re-run Wi-Fi setup — our Wi-Fi setup guide covers HP Smart, WPS and Wi-Fi Direct.

7. The IP address changed

If the printer worked before and now shows offline, the router may have given it a new IP address. Reserve a fixed IP for it in the router (DHCP reservation) so it keeps the same address after restarts — see how to share a printer on Windows 11.

8. Update or reinstall HP Smart

Update HP Smart from the Play Store or App Store, or uninstall and reinstall it. Some features need you to sign in with an HP account; basic printing does not.

9. Print without HP Smart

• Android: open the file, tap Share or ⋮ → Print, and pick the printer. If it does not appear, install HP Print Service Plugin or Mopria Print Service.
• iPhone: tap Share → Print; AirPrint printers on the same Wi-Fi appear automatically.
• No router: turn on the printer's Wi-Fi Direct and connect the phone to it directly.