So...the app finds my printer just fine, but integration with iOS is seriously lacking. It doesn't show up directly as an option for "print" (note: HP Smart does...hmmm). So instead, I found that I can "pinch out" on the print preview to turn my pdf into a (wait for it) pdf. Then--and only then--can I select Brother Print & Scan as an option. That seemed to work fine until today when I tried to print a pdf with filled out fields. The Apple iOS option to print fields was selected (and the fields showed when zooming in on the iOS print preview), but those fields were missing when viewed in the Brother Print & Scan app and missing from the printed document. What a disappointing waste of time, paper, and toner. It blows my mind that in 2023 a company can't get such a universally needed (and expected) feature--printing from a mobile device to a wireless printer--right. I'll likely look to a different vendor when replacing this printer.

I would rate the user interface as “fine” by 2009 standards, and just not up to date compared to today, but this app works shockingly well for faxing out, scanning to Files app (big one for me), printing (though I usually just use AirPrint natively in files), and machine/ink status for my 7 year old Brother MFC J480DW on my iPad Pro 3 11” running 15.4.1. The fact that I can do this stuff relatively smoothly from my iPad to my ancient printer on a different VLAN’d subnet is insanely cool*. Four stars for doing the job reliably and in some cases above expectations (for the most part), but not five because boy it hurts to look at. *Since mDNS and therefor Bonjour is a multicast service, the printer is only “visible” to things on its own subnet; you need to get Avahi Reflector running somewhere on your network to cheat and bounce the mDNS Bonjour packets between the subnets for interVLAN routing, EVEN if your interVLAN firewall is set up correctly, or the app won’t see the printer advertising and therefor won’t know where to find it; same with Airplay and AirPrint and Roku across subnets. Once Avahi is reflecting packets between the subnets, you’re home free. Make sure to set Avahi’s cache size to 0 or the printer and device names start to get real funky after a few weeks.

I purchased my brother printer model: MFC-J480DW approximately 3-4 years ago. I wanted a printer that I could wirelessly print from my iPhone. I use the iPrint&Scan app. Up until 5-6 months ago everything worked great. The only time I had to reconnect/re-link my cell phone to my printer was after a power or internet outage. But not anymore! Every time I want to print something I have to set-up a new connection, like it’s the very first time I’m using it. So now I’m having to purchase a new printer that I can depend on & depend on it’s connection. I purchased my Brother printer because I was assured that it was easy to set-up wirelessly & would keep the connection. Which ever since 5-6 months ago, it won’t. I can’t walk 10 feet away from my printer without it loosing its wireless connection to my iPhone. I have spoken to brother support and apple support regarding this. Just to make sure I was linking them correctly. Which I knew I was, since it worked fine for years. But now I absolutely hate everything about Brother. All I can think is that an update did something to the brother iPrint&Scan app. I can’t believe that a huge corporation would allow something like this (app update) to loose thousands of customers for them. I didn’t read one good review. Which tells me Brother doesn’t care about there customers or keeping them!

This connects online and almost always my ink will suddenly show that the cartridges are low or empty…. Even when almost half full. But even with out that nefarious aspect, the fact that it tries to control you in that they make it a constant struggle and irritation to just use the machine. The machine that you own. That you shouldn’t have to be tethered to this company forever. If you want to use a different ink, even though it’s none of their f’ing business, they make the machine turn against you. Sometimes it’s working fine… other times it’s acting like it should have a say as to what you do in your home with YOUR MACHINE. The company said they sell their machines cheaply but expect ink sales to make it worth while. I hope that congress steps in like they did with Apple and the right to repair. We need laws preventing intrusive controlling software on any device we buy . Also, this app is the bare minimum that they could provide their customers / mainly pushing ink - the formatting and printing options are sub par. Especially coming from a company that makes printers. This app hasn’t gotten better over the years either. You can only upload 1 image per printing- why better to use up paper and ink!!! Why not?! The ink prices are another slap in the face of anyone who has one of these machines. They are price gouging to the extreme.