Please note that due to the varying quality of 3rd party printers, Seamless only officially supports Star Micronics and Epson printers. We cannot provide technical support for any printer that is not manufactured by Star Micronics or Epson.
How do I connect an ESC/POS printer to Seamless?
Most receipt and kitchen printers that are not Star or Epson use a common printing language called ESC/POS. Seamless prints to those over your network: you type in the printer's IP address and the till talks to it directly. The steps are the same on the Seamless POS iPad app and on Seamless Pocket for Android.
Before you start
ESC/POS printers are added over the network only. There is no USB or Bluetooth option for them, so the printer needs an Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection and it has to be on the same network as the till. A wired connection into the same router or switch as the till is the most reliable. Wi-Fi works, but the signal needs to be good where the printer sits.
Star and Epson printers are not added this way. Those are found automatically by Search for printers now.
You will also need the printer's IP address.
1. Find the printer's IP address
Most ESC/POS printers print their own network settings on a self-test page:
Switch the printer off.
Hold down the paper feed button.
Switch the printer on, keep holding for a couple of seconds, then let go.
A page prints with the network settings on it. The IP address will look something like 192.168.1.100. If nothing prints, check the list of connected devices in your router instead.
While you are in there, give the printer a fixed address, either as a static IP in the printer's own settings or as a reserved address in your router. An address left to change on its own will move the next time the router reboots, and the printer then goes offline on the till.
2. Add the printer on the till
Open Settings, then Printers.
Tap Add network printer by IP (ESC/POS).
Give it a name you will recognise during service, for example Kitchen or Bar.
Type in the IP address.
Tap Check Printer. This asks the printer what it is before anything is saved, so the wrong kind of printer is caught before it ever prints.
Tap Add.
On iPad, the first time the app looks for a printer, iOS asks for permission to find devices on your local network. Tap Allow. If it was declined, turn it back on in the iOS Settings app under Seamless, then Local Network.
3. Tell the till what the printer is for
Tap the printer in the list to open Printer Settings. You can rename it here and set what it does:
Use as receipt printer, for customer receipts.
Has cash drawer connected, for a drawer plugged into the back of the printer. The till pops the drawer through the printer when a cash payment is taken.
Use as kitchen/prep printer, so the printer can be picked as a destination for prep tickets.
Has buzzer connected, to sound the buzzer when a ticket lands.
Use as delivery printer, for delivery tickets.
One printer can do several of these at once. Tap Test Print before you leave the screen to confirm it all works.
4. Send tickets to it
Prep tickets go wherever your print routes send them. Once the printer has been added on one till it syncs to your other tills and appears in the back office printer list, so you can pick it when you build a route.
See Print Routing for setting up routes, category order and per-terminal rules.
If it stops printing
Work through these in order:
Run a test print from Settings, then Printers. That tells you whether the problem is the printer or the routing.
Check the paper is in, the lid is closed properly and there is no red light on the printer.
Check the IP address has not changed. Print the self-test page again and compare it with the address saved on the till. If it has moved, reserve the address in your router so it stops happening.
Check the till and the printer are on the same network. A till on the guest Wi-Fi cannot reach a printer on the main network, and some routers have a client isolation setting that stops devices talking to each other at all.
Switch the printer off and on, wait for it to settle, then test print again.
If it prints pages of random characters, it is not an ESC/POS printer. Forget the printer and add it with Search for printers now instead.
Frequently asked questions
Which printers count as ESC/POS? Most generic 80mm thermal receipt printers, including the ones supplied with other EPOS systems and a lot of unbranded models. If it is not a Star or an Epson, try adding it as ESC/POS.
Can I connect one by USB or Bluetooth? Not for ESC/POS models, which are network only. USB is supported on Star printers.
Do I have to add it on every till? No. Add it once, on one till, and it syncs to the rest of your tills and to the back office.
Can the same printer do receipts and kitchen tickets? Yes. The settings are independent, so a printer behind the bar can print customer receipts and drinks tickets.
Will it still print if the internet goes down? Yes. Printing happens over your local network between the till and the printer, so it does not depend on your internet connection.
Why does the app warn me when I enter a Star printer's IP address? Star printers use a different printing language. Sent ESC/POS tickets, they print long streams of characters until the roll runs out, so the app checks first.
