Enable AirPrint for non‑AirPrint printers

[iPtrck]

What type of request is this?

New add-on

Existing add-on name

None

Describe the add-on or add-on enhancement

I've got an older printer that works perfectly fine but doesn't support AirPrint. With the new Mac Mini M4 being so affordable now, a lot of people are switching to Apple devices in their homes, and it's frustrating that we can't print to perfectly good printers without jumping through hoops.

The Problem:
If you have a non-AirPrint printer and Apple devices, you either need to set up a separate server, use a computer as a print server, or just deal with not being able to print from your iPhone/iPad. Since Home Assistant is already running 24/7 in many homes, it makes sense to handle this there instead of needing another device.

What I'm Proposing:
A Home Assistant add-on that makes non-AirPrint printers (USB or network) show up as AirPrint devices on your network. Pretty straightforward.

What it should do:

• Detect printers connected via USB or network
• Make them available as AirPrint devices
• Support multiple printers
• Simple web interface for setup
• Maybe integrate with Home Assistant's printer entities if that's possible

Technical bits:
Could use CUPS with AirPrint support and Avahi for mDNS. There are already projects like this out there, just not as an HA add-on.

Use cases

Why this would be useful:

• Don't need a separate Raspberry Pi or computer running just for AirPrint
• Everything stays within Home Assistant
• Makes sense now that more people have affordable Macs (M4 Mini)
• Extends printer life instead of forcing upgrades

Happy to help test if someone wants to build this!

Upstream project

No response

Anything else?

No response

[iPtrck]

It'll probably get more users to use home assistant 😜