Printing Labels through Bluetooth Low Energy on iOS

In this blog, we'll explain how to configure the printer and how to build a listener and an error viewer pages in PHP with a MySQL database on the back to store the alerts.  

All the Link-OS printers support the HTTP-POST protocol to send messages from the printer to a webserver. These messages contain information about the printer status and possible error status, so, if correctly used, this feature can be used to monitor a fleet of printers. 

Recently, we have discovered a Bluetooth connection issue between some newer iOS devices and some latest Zebra printer models. The symptom of the issue is that the Bluetooth connection gets disconnected periodically approximately every 60 seconds. The symptom is visible on the Bluetooth Settings of the iOS devices, where you can see the Bluetooth Settings screen automatically refreshes itself, drops the Bluetooth connection and reconnects a few seconds later.

PrintConnect has been widely utilized on Android devices to simplify the printer discovery and pairing process for apps that need to print labels or receipts on Zebra Link-OS printers. With PrintConnect, apps simply pass the variable data for the label and receipt to PrintConnect using the Android Intents.

Effective August 31, 2020, printers will now load and enable PDF Direct emulation for free after these have been updated with Link-OS 6.3.  The feature was formerly a paid option with previous Link-OS versions.

Nowadays, most of our Zebra printers are equipped with Bluetooth (BT), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or both (BT + BLE). There is a Bluetooth User Guide for Zebra printers, which covers how the Bluetooth technologies (both BT & BLE) are used in Zebra printer production lines, the security mode, pairing and configuration, etc.

Many of Zebra’s Print DNA tools require Zebra Link-OS printers to have Bluetooth® installed, enabled, and discoverable. This blog will teach how to perform the following using Zebra Link-OS Printer and a Windows or Mac computer: 

By Courtney Adams

This session includes an introduction and demonstration of the ZebraDesigner v3 label design tool, its general features, the Pro edition, the developer edition, and Windows drivers. Preview some of these new features we'll talk about in this blog.