6 Best Portable Photo Printers of 2023

Jul 03, 2023

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This compact portable photo printer makes it easy to print on the go with above-average image quality. Read More

Targeted toward teens and tweens, this portable photo printer is easy to use. Quick to print but colors in photos can be somewhat muted. Read More

This sleek portable printer is easy to set up and use. Editing options a-plenty, but color accuracy can be a bit off. Read More

The perfect printer for those who like to have fun with their photography. Classic Polaroid-style photos give it a nostalgic feel. Read More

This printer offers fast prints with the ability to turn photos into videos through its app. Unfortunately, print quality isn't great. Read More

Updated January 31, 2023

These days, smartphones are the go-to device for capturing memories, and social media is the default place to share them. Still, a few of us love printing those "Kodak moments" to share with family and friends. That's where portable photo printers come in, printing instant photos from your phone on the go!

Unlike a traditional printer, these instant photo printers are small enough to stuff in a coat pocket or purse, require little setup, and can print high-quality, physical copies of photos taken with your smartphone, anywhere you go. It's almost like carrying around an old-school instant camera with you, everywhere you go.

After extensive time researching and testing portable photo printers, our top pick is Polaroid Hi-Print (available at Amazon for $77.74) . It creates crisp, colorful prints, and its easy-to-use app makes using it a joy.

The Polaroid Hi-Print's crisp colorful photos and easy-to-use smartphone app won us over.

The Polaroid Hi-Print is the most well-rounded phone photo printer of all the models we tested. It features a playful, sturdy design and above-average print quality.

At 6.0 x 3.0 x 1.0 inches in size, the Hi-Print has roughly the same dimensions as a large-screened smartphone, albeit a bit thicker. Its glossy white finish is accented by a rainbow of colors that wrap around one end of the printer, making it easy to find in your bag or backpack.

Connecting it to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth was simple, as was installing the combination paper/ink cartridge that the Hi-Print uses to create 2x3-inch prints of your photos. The Hi-Print's companion app includes step by step instructions.

Within minutes, we had the printer set up and ready to start printing pictures. During testing, we never felt the need to pick up the instruction manual or jump online for assistance.

In addition to allowing your phone to communicate with the Hi-Print, the companion app provides some basic editing tools. You can change the framing of the shot you’re about to print, alter it with a filter, or deck it out with colorful digital stickers.

There are plenty of more powerful image editing apps out there. Still, having these options built into the app is a nice touch. You can even use the app to capture new photos, without having to switch over to your smartphone's camera interface.

The Hi-Print wasn't the fastest printer that we tested for this guide. However, it isn't slow enough to be irritating, either. Although the Hi-Print didn't offer the best image quality of all the models we tested, its prints were still crisp and largely true to the digital photos we used during testing.

This printer tended to tone down some of the brighter colors captured in our test photos. However, this can be sidestepped by tweaking the color saturation of an image before printing it. Ultimately, the Hi-Print is enjoyable to use in a way that makes up for a bit of color desaturation.

Easy setup

Above average print quality

Fun, stylish design

None that we could find

Canon has worked very hard to make its Ivy portable printer scream "fun." It's compact, available in a number of color options, and equipped with wrist strap eyelets for portability. All in all, it could be the perfect accessory for a ‘tween shutterbug.

The Canon Ivy uses 2x3-inch Zink photo paper with a peelable backing, allowing users to turn their photos into stickers. During testing, the Bluetooth connectivity was reliable, enabling a smooth printing process. Many images I sent to Ivy finished printing within 50 seconds.

That said, the colors were slightly muted, looking less vibrant than they had on my smartphone. Many of the test prints took on a slight bluish hue, turning pinks into dull purples. Skin tones often suffered from this same issue.

As with many of the mobile photo printers I tested, the battery life is lackluster. You can easily print more than a dozen photos on a single charge, but you’ll want to bring a charging cable if you need any more than that.

Compact design

Prints quickly

Poor color accuracy

Poor battery life

With a footprint of only 4.5" x 3.0" x 1.0", the sleek, lightweight design of the Kodak Step makes it easy to slip into a small purse, backpack, or even a pocket.

Setting up the Step was easy. Its companion app (available for iOS and Android) walks you through the process, connecting your phone to the portable printer via Bluetooth.

During testing, the printer appeared immediately in the app. I was ready to print photos within a few minutes of unboxing the device.

Kodak has vastly improved its editing app since the original version of this guide was written. The app's user interface is easy to navigate and offers a wealth of editing choices. There is a wide selection of stickers, filters, and frames to choose from. A collage feature will let you assemble your favorite photos into a single print.

The Step prints photos on 2x3 -inch Zink photo paper. This ink-free technology means you don't have to worry about replacing ink cartridges. Printing a photo takes no time at all, as little as 40 seconds for a single photo. The Step can churn out 20 photos on a single charge.

Once printed, photos appeared crisp with a surprising amount of detail. However, the color reproduction was not always accurate.

The Kodak Step's photos tend to take on a reddish hue. Skin tones often appeared too warm. Likewise, black and white photos exhibited a faint pink or red hue in brighter areas of the image.

Easy setup

Quick printing

Great companion app

Poor color accuracy

As one of the smallest models we tested, the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link is perfect for on-the-go fun. The app lets you customize prints by applying filters and adding fun captions. You can also buy photo paper with designs already printed on it, to add even more character.

This was the only model where photos developed after being printed. I felt like our smartphone had been transformed into a classic Polaroid camera. It was a pleasure watching the photos the Instax produced slowly come to life. That said, impatient photographers might find this charming bit of nostalgia to be a dealbreaker.

It can take up to five minutes before all the colors in the print finish processing. However, this pokey method of printing speeds things up in another area. Because the photo develops after leaving the printer, it's easier to print a number of photos in quick succession. That makes it great for quickly sharing pictures with friends.

We also love that the Instax tells you how many shots it can print before needing more paper. No other device we tested offers that bit of information.

Many options to edit photos

Unique developing process

Takes time to develop photo

At 4.5" x 3.0" x 1.0", and 7 ounces, the LifePrint 2x3 Hyperprint was by far the smallest and lightest we tested. It was also the fastest by far, taking around 30 seconds to print a photo. Some of this speed comes from using Zink (Zero-Ink) technology that combines the ink and photo paper.

But the resulting 2x3 photographs were the worst of any portable photo printer we tested. The images were very soft, lacking any crisp detail. We noticed subtle artifacts in areas of solid color. The colors were also muted compared to the other printers.

On the positive side, the LifePrint app did have a lot of customization options, including the unique ability to turn a still photo into a short video through augmented reality. Using the app, you can hover your camera over a photo and it will come to life for a few seconds. It's extremely gimmicky, but it's kind of neat the first few times you try it out. This printer also has its own social network to share videos and images.

Looking at some of the features, it's clear LifePrint is aiming for a younger audience. They’re prioritizing fun over print quality, but that may be exactly what you want.

Small design Fast prints

Augmented reality photos

Photos lack detail

The Victure PT320 was the wildcard in our test group. While we hadn't heard much about this company's hardware beforehand, the Victure continued to pop up in our research. After seeing glowing reviews on several e-commerce sites, we decided to give it a go.

Unfortunately, the Victure started getting sketchy as soon as we began setting it up for testing.

While setting up the printer using a Bluetooth connection, it appeared on our smartphones as a Kodak printer. This conflicted with the Victure's instructions that the device will appear in our Bluetooth pairing list as a "photo printer". Since we already had a Kodak printer in our test group, it took quite some time to sort this issue out.

We also noticed the printer's companion app was an almost identical clone of the Kodak Mini 3 Retro's app. The only distinguishable difference is that it was missing the Kodak logo.

We reached out to Victure with our concerns. The company responded, telling us it uses the same manufacturer as Kodak for its portable printer. It's certainly not unheard of in the tech world for two different companies to use the same manufacturer, but they typically offer different features and app interfaces to differentiate themselves.

Even after finding the printer in our Bluetooth settings, our problems continued. We had nothing but issues trying to connect this portable photo printer to our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The app would see the printer and tell us it was connected. Then, when we tried to print a photo, it produced an error. The problem? No printer was connected.

After four hours of playing with the Victure's settings, we gave up and contacted customer service. Victure doesn't offer a telephone helpline, so we had to send an email.

Their response was to send us a link to a YouTube video about connecting the printer to your smartphone. There was nothing resembling troubleshooting. Attempting to connect the Victure to an iPhone 12 Pro Max and an iPhone X yielded identical results.

None that we could find

Poor customer service

Instructions conflict with product operation

Unable to print photos

We spent weeks researching and testing the portable photo printers featured in this guide.

My name is Mike Yawney. I have been reviewing tech products for over 15 years. Most of that time has been spent in front of the camera, talking tech and reviewing everything from smartphones to video games on one of Canada's most popular national morning television programs.

When I’m not standing in front of the bright lights, you can find me trying to find a nice quiet spot to talk tech on the radio. I also post video reviews and how-to guides to my personal YouTube channel.

I always have their latest smartphone in hand, a new laptop on my desk, and a game installed on my console, ready to review.

We began each test by determining ease of setup and compatibility with iOS and Android devices. We connected each printer to a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and an iPhone 12 Pro Max.

We then used both smartphones to snap a large variety of photos to test with our lineup of portable printers. On the Galaxy S21 Ultra, we took photos with the 108MP wide-angle camera, along with the 10MP telephoto lens. On the iPhone 12 Pro Max, we tested shots taken with the phone's 12MP camera system. Once the shooting was complete, we selected an image from each of the following groups:

Next, using each printer's companion app, we applied an image filter to our photos. We then printed the altered photo, to see how the images compared.

Finally. In addition to assessing print quality, we looked at how easy each of the printers was to use. We considered set up, overall useability, companion app functionality, battery life, durability, and the overall user experience.

There are a few factors you should consider.

The devices we tested a variety of different printing techniques. Three of the printers used dye sublimation, which uses heat to transfer ink from film sheets to photo paper. This process takes time. Each sheet of photo paper passes through the printer four times to lay down each layer of color before the final print emerges.

Others used Zink technology. Zink paper is embedded with dye crystals that change color once heat is applied.

Finally, the Fujifilm Instax uses the classic "Polaroid" technique: developer fluid is stored within the edges of the photo paper. Once a photo leaves the printer, the developer fluid saturates the photo and begins to produce an image.

Each of the print methods mentioned above come with extras you’ll need to buy. That may mean a two-in-one style cartridge with paper and ink included. It may also mean skipping ink for a special paper, like Zink or the classic Polaroid-style film.

No matter which system you choose, photo paper isn't cheap. Single prints can set you back anywhere between 50 cents and one dollar. Shop around for your refill ink and paper. With patience, you can find deals online, and you can save money if you buy multiple packs at once in bulk.

Portable photo printers typically print a single size of photo: 3x3, 2.7x2.7, and 2x3-inch prints. While the larger 3x3 sizes work well for portraits and selfies, the wider 2x3 format is more appropriate for landscape photography.

If what you want to print isn't well-sized to your printer paper, you can always crop your photos using apps on your smartphone, including your photo printer's companion app.

None of the printers we tested offered exceptional battery life. Most could only print between 8 and 12 photos before needing a charge. If you want to print additional photos, you will need to carry a portable charger along.

Mike Yawney

Contributor

For more than 20 years Mike Yawney has shared his love of technology across television, radio and print publications.

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