Brother iPrint&Scan 4+

This review is for the Brother iPrint&Scan 8.0 scanning utility which I’m using with a newly purchased Brother HL-L2395DW scanner/printer.
I’m using it on an iMac over a wifi connection and it does work, but the lack of anything but the most basic scanning features is pretty disappointing.

The most egregious of these misses is the inability to run a quick preview scan and then specify the scanning area with a bounding box before hitting the final Scan button. If you’re scanning anything other than a standard-size page, you will need to scan at the largest page size (8.5x11) and then crop what you want using another application, such as Apple’s built-in Preview app. This means it will take extra time to scan and extra time to edit the result. Even the 20-year-old Epson this printer replaced provided a preview/crop feature, as has every other scanning software I’ve ever used in the past 30 years.
If you’re only ever scanning documents it’s serviceable, but anything else such as an odd sized photo or drawing, it’s a drag.

Software works OK, but you may want to opt out of sending them usage and device information, which they would otherwise collect. The “privacy” policy allows them to record your printer model, serial number, location of your device, printing date, number of printed pages, types and sizes of paper, ink consumption, language information, IP address, OS type, printing date, quantity, and the types and sizes of paper. Although they promise this information will not be used to identify you without your consent, clearly it can (serial number, if you registered, and IP address, for example), and they may use that data for marketing. Finally, all that information “may be stored in Servers located in countries without an adequate level of protection for personal data compared to that in your country ....” So, go to Settings > Product Information and uncheck the Send Information box.

I have been using a Samsung for the past 8 years and have been very satisfied with it. But it is harder to maintain than this one was to set up. And, it never worked printing from WIFI or my iPhone, though it claimed to. Maybe it was just not ready for prime time. This one is. The daughter wanted the old home office printer to take to work. I bought this one to replace it. It is a Brother HL-3290CDW. I set it up in the kitchen, it acquired the WIFI. I prepared the ink, very easily. Moved it to the office to connected the USB cable. Finished the setup and found I could print from anywhere in the house via the WIFI, with smart phones, iPhones, tablets, and notebook computers. Not a single problem. I would have given it five stars, but I have not tried the OCR feature yet, nor read the manual. I had one surprise, it printed double-sided and very fast. This a very good simple all in one printer, copier and more.