Guide · Printers

Bluetooth printer + Android phone — bill printing without a laptop.

Pair the printer in the phone's own Bluetooth settings first. Then open EasyKOT → Device tab → Printers → Add printer, choose Bluetooth printer (already paired), pick it from the list, set 80mm or 58mm, and Save printer. Press Test print. If a slip comes out, that phone can print KOTs and bills. This is how you run the whole restaurant from one Android phone. Since Captain 0.2.12 the Device section is called Printing.

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Android only · 58 mm and 80 mm · no per-phone charge · see the phone-only setup →

Before you start

What you need.

  • An Android phone. Bluetooth printing is Android only: Apple allows only its certified printer models, which the common ₹2,000 printers are not. The iPhone captain app is not in the App Store yet either, so the printing phone is an Android, on Android 8 or newer.
  • A Bluetooth thermal printer, charged and switched on. 58 mm or 80 mm, speaking ESC/POS. Keep the box: the printer ships with a pairing PIN, usually 0000 or 1234.
  • One active printing phone. Stop printing on the old phone before enabling another one. The app does not coordinate two active phones for you.
  • Battery, honestly. A phone that is printing all evening is a phone on a charger. Keep a cable at the counter.

Reading this on a laptop? You can try the Desktop App in your browser: it runs the real register and opens sample bills and KOTs through the normal print dialog. It cannot find a Bluetooth printer or confirm that paper came out. On a phone, the better door is EasyKOT on an Android phone.

The walkthrough

Pair it, add it, test print.

Read the video transcript

This is the recorded narration. Screen labels and steps reflect the video as published.

EasyKOT on Android. In this video, we will follow the complete process on the phone. After installing the app, this is the first screen you see. There are three options.

The first option is Run the counter. Choose this if you are the owner, manager or cashier and want to run the whole point of sale on your Android phone. You can take orders on the phone. The setup will let you connect a printer.

Once it is connected, you can print kitchen tickets and bills directly from this phone. The second option is take orders at the tables. Suppose your register app is running on a laptop at the restaurant's billing counter. Your waiters or captains walk to the tables and take orders on their phones.

Suppose orders and kitchen tickets go to the billing counter. The printer connected to the counter handles the printing. The captain does not need a separate printer in this setup. Orders are taken at the tables while the main printer stays at the billing counter.

This is the second option. The third option is for a different setup. For example, at an event, function or wedding, there may be several food counters. Carrying a laptop to every counter may not be convenient.

Several waiters or captains may be moving around and taking orders. With this option, you can give each person their own printer. They take orders on their phone and print their own kitchen tickets and bills on their own printer. With the second option, printing went to one main printer at the billing counter.

With this third option, each person uses their own printer. That is how you can have several people, each with a separate printer. For this walkthrough, we will use the first option. Tap Run the counter.

Use the same email and password that you created when signing up in the admin panel. Enter those credentials here, then tap sign in. If you have forgotten your password, use Forgot your password? to reset it.

This recording uses a test account to demonstrate the process. The phone is now connected and the menu has loaded. The next screen takes us to printer setup. We are using a Seznik thermal printer here.

First, open the phone's Bluetooth settings and pair the printer. This phone already has it paired. If yours is not paired yet, select the printer and complete the pairing request. The list shows the paired devices.

Once the printer is paired, tap done and return to the app. Now tap Add printer. There are several ways to connect a printer. Along with Bluetooth, you can connect a network printer by its IP address, whether it is on Wi-Fi or LAN.

We are using Bluetooth in this walkthrough. A Bluetooth printer must first be paired in Android settings. You can then choose it from the list of paired devices in the app. Select the Seznik printer.

Choose everything for both kitchen tickets and bills. Then select the paper size. This printer uses 58 mm paper. Save the printer settings.

Now tap Test print. A test slip should come out of the printer. Watch the actual printer footage alongside the screen. The test slip has printed.

This confirms the connection and the print on paper. Next, choose print from this phone. We want this phone to print directly rather than send the printing to a separate billing counter. The order screen now opens.

Running orders appear here. There are none yet in this recording. Use Choose table to select a table. You can see tables such as T1 and T2.

Tables are set up through the admin panel and register app. If your setup uses takeaway instead of tables, you can choose the takeaway option. Tap takeaway to open the full menu. Add the dishes you want, where half and full options are available.

Choose the portion you need. After adding the dishes, open Review order. The top shows that this is a takeaway order. You can use Assign table if you want to put it on a table.

Check the dishes and quantities here. Add a note if needed such as a request about spice. Now tap Send KOT, the order is sent for the kitchen. In this setup, the kitchen ticket prints on the printer connected to this phone.

Watch the actual ticket come out. If the customer wants something else later, tap + Add items. Here we add butter garlic naan and return to Review order. The first four dishes are already under Sent to kitchen.

The new dish is under to send. Tap Send KOT again. This time only the new dish prints. The four items sent earlier are not printed again, so the kitchen does not receive a duplicate order.

When the order is complete, open settle. There are cash and UPI options for recording payment. Collect the payment from the customer first. You can also enter the customer's name and phone number if you want those details on the bill.

Here we enter the name and then the phone number. These customer details are optional. We choose UPI to record the payment. The bill now comes out of the printer.

It includes the complete order, the customer details and the total. You can configure GST and other billing settings in the admin panel. Those settings will be covered in a separate video. That is the complete process for taking orders, printing kitchen tickets and making the final bill with EasyKOT on your Android phone.

This walkthrough is in English. Bluetooth printer setup starts at 2:42.

  1. 0:00 Pick the phone's job
  2. 2:17 Sign in
  3. 2:42 Connect a printer
  4. 4:28 Order and KOT
  5. 6:12 Bill and payment
  6. 6:58 Done
1

Pair the printer in the phone's own Bluetooth settings

Switch the printer on, then pair it from Android's Settings → Connected devices → Bluetooth, exactly as you would a pair of earphones. EasyKOT deliberately does not hunt for unpaired printers. It only offers devices the phone has already bonded with, so pairing happens once, in the place Android already handles it.

2

Open the Device tab in EasyKOT and find the printer section

Device is the last tab in the app's bottom bar. On Captain 0.2.11, the section is called Printers. Since Captain 0.2.12 it is called Printing, with Carry a printer for my orders for a connected captain phone. Add printer and Bluetooth printer (already paired) keep their names.

EasyKOT Captain 0.2.12 testing build Device tab: Ravi Kumar online and printing his own orders, Printing with an 80mm selected printer, and This phone prints its own orders

Signed 0.2.12 testing build: a captain's carried printer now lives under Device → Printing.

3

Tap Add printer, then Bluetooth printer (already paired)

The phone lists every Bluetooth device it is paired with, by name and address. Tap your printer. If the list comes back empty the app tells you plainly: pair the printer in the phone's Bluetooth settings first, then come back.

EasyKOT on Android, Add printer chooser: Bluetooth printer (already paired), Wi-Fi / LAN printer (enter IP), and Cancel

Captain 0.2.11: Device tab → Printers → Add printer, on an Android phone. Bluetooth leads because it is the one that needs no router.

4

Set the paper size and what this printer prints

Paper is 80mm or 58mm: match the roll you buy, and the app will not let you save until you tap one. Prints is the role: Everything, KOTs, or Bills. On a one-phone shop leave it on Everything. Tap Save printer.

EasyKOT Android printer details: Prints set to Everything, KOTs or Bills, Paper set to 80mm or 58mm, then Save printer

Prints is the role and Paper is the roll. On a one-phone shop, leave Prints on Everything.

5

Test print, then turn phone printing on

Tap Test print; the app answers "Sent — check the printer." The slip itself carries a row of digits exactly as wide as the paper size you chose, followed by its own instruction, so a wrong width is visible on the paper, not just in the settings. Once a good slip comes out, tap Print from this phone and follow the prompts. The status line then reads "This phone is the printer — KOTs and bills print here."

EasyKOT Captain 0.2.12 testing build asking Did a slip come out? after sending a 58mm test slip, with Yes, it printed and No slip. Try again actions

A carried printer is selected only after the person confirms that its test slip came out.

EasyKOT Android printer card after Test print, showing the green message Sent — check the printer above Add printer and Reprint last bill

“Sent — check the printer.” The app is careful never to claim the paper came out, only that the bytes left the phone.

EasyKOT Android Device tab with printing armed: the green line This phone is the printer — KOTs and bills print here, and a Stop printing from this phone button

When it is active: “This phone is the printer.” Turning it back off is the single tap right below it.

The notification is meant to stay. While the phone is the printer, Android shows an ongoing notification reading EasyKOT is the printer / KOTs and bills print from this phone. That is what keeps the print queue alive while the phone is in an apron pocket. Swiping it away is not the way to stop printing. Stop printing from this phone on the Device tab is.

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The one that catches people

"Bluetooth permission not granted."

On Android 12 and newer, an app may only talk to a paired Bluetooth device if you have given it the Nearby devices permission. The first time you tap Bluetooth printer (already paired), EasyKOT asks for it: choose Allow and the paired-printer list opens. If you dismiss the ask, tapping again asks again; the printer itself is fine either way.

Said "Don't allow" one time too many? Android stops showing the ask, and only its own settings can turn the permission on: Settings → Apps → EasyKOT → Permissions → Nearby devices → Allow. Reopen the Device tab and tap Add printer again; your paired printer will be in the list. EasyKOT tells you this exact path on the failed screen too.

EasyKOT on Android after the Nearby devices permission was refused: an amber message reading The Nearby devices permission is turned off for EasyKOT, grant it in the phone's Settings, Apps, EasyKOT, Permissions, Nearby devices, then come back — with Try again and Back buttons

The real screen, on a real Android phone. It spells out the Settings path rather than leaving you at a dead end, and Try again works the moment you come back.

  • Bluetooth is turned off means exactly that: pull down the shade and switch it on.
  • No paired Bluetooth printers means the phone has not bonded with it yet. Go back to Android's Bluetooth settings and pair it there first; EasyKOT never scans for unpaired devices.
  • Could not connect to printer with an address in it means the pairing exists but the printer is not answering: is it on, in range, and not already connected to somebody else's phone?
Choosing

Bluetooth or Wi-Fi printer — which to buy?

Bluetooth, if it is one phone at one counter

  • No router in the path. The phone talks to the printer directly, so a dead broadband line or a rebooting router changes nothing.
  • Cheapest to start. A battery 58 mm Bluetooth printer is the standard kit for a takeaway counter or a stall.
  • One phone at a time. That is the real limit, and it is a hardware one, not ours.

Wi-Fi, if more than one device prints

  • Several phones, or a phone and a laptop can all send to the same Wi-Fi printer by IP.
  • It can sit in the kitchen while the phone walks the floor: Bluetooth range keeps a printer beside you.
  • Reachability is knowable. A network printer answers a probe, so the app can tell you it has gone away. A Bluetooth printer's honest check is always the test print.

Either way, the phone-side flow is the same: Add printer → Wi-Fi / LAN printer (enter IP) instead of the Bluetooth option, then the printer IP and port 9100. For the Desktop App version, see connecting a Wi-Fi or USB printer to the Desktop App.

EasyKOT on Android adding a Wi-Fi printer: a field prompting for the printer IP, for example 192.168.1.50, a port field pre-filled with 9100, and Next and Cancel buttons

The Wi-Fi path: two fields, and 9100 is already filled in because that is the port essentially every ESC/POS printer listens on.

When it goes quiet

The printer stopped appearing in the list.

  • Check the pairing survived. Some cheap printers drop the bond when the battery fully dies. Android's Bluetooth settings will show it as unpaired. Pair it again and it reappears in EasyKOT.
  • Another phone may be holding it. Bluetooth printers take one connection; if last night's phone is still connected in the back office, this one cannot get in.
  • The permission may have been reset. Android revokes permissions for apps you have not opened in a while. Re-grant Nearby devices and it comes straight back.

Nothing is lost while you sort it out. Every bill and every KOT is written to the phone before it is queued to print, and the queue keeps retrying on its own for 5 minutes. A ticket still stuck after that stops trying and waits on the Device tab, with Retry now and Discard, so an old ticket never prints by surprise when the printer comes back. If a ticket died mid-print the phone asks you plainly ( "One ticket may or may not have printed — check the printer and answer" ) with It printed and Print again (marked duplicate). Nobody has to guess.

Still nothing on paper? Work through the nine printer checks, in order.

Kitchen tickets

Will a Bluetooth printer print KOTs too?

Yes. The Prints setting on each printer decides: Everything, KOTs, or Bills. One printer on Everything gives you a kitchen ticket when you fire a round and a GST bill when you settle, off the same roll, from the same phone.

  • A second round prints only the new items, headed with the round number, so the kitchen never cooks a dish twice.
  • Two printers, two jobs. Add a second one and set it to KOTs while the counter one takes Bills: the same split a Desktop App does with a kitchen KOT printer.
  • A basic Kitchen screen is available on Android. A chef can see all open store tickets, tap Done and switch to a Prep list. A phone-only counter does not host the desktop browser KDS; a separate chef phone receives its board over internet sync and may be out of date while offline. Category station filters and the All day view remain desktop-KDS features.
  • Waiters can still carry phones. Other phones running the captain app send their rounds to the printing phone. There is no per-waiter or per-phone charge. By default their rounds go to the phone printing for the store. A manager can move that store-wide fallback role to another joined phone with a saved printer, and since Captain 0.2.12 a captain can carry a printer for only their own tables (Take orders and print them).
If you also run the Desktop App on a laptop

The same Bluetooth printer, on the Desktop App.

A laptop reaches a paired Bluetooth printer as a serial port, so on the Desktop App it lives under Serial / Bluetooth, same idea, different screen. Pair it in the computer's own Bluetooth settings first, exactly as on the phone.

The EasyKOT Desktop App's Add manually form set to Serial / Bluetooth: a serial port path field showing /dev/cu.XXXX or COM3, baud rate 9600, and a note that a Bluetooth printer must be paired in OS settings first

Desktop App · Settings → Printers & KDS → Add manually, on Serial / Bluetooth.

Detect printers on the laptop finds paired Bluetooth devices too, but it is honest about what it knows: a bonded printer is listed under Other devices on this computer with the reason "Paired Bluetooth device — try a test print", and a soundbar sitting next to it is demoted with "Looks like another accessory, not a printer". Nothing is hidden from you; it is just ranked.

EasyKOT desktop detect results with Other devices on this computer expanded: two network printers ranked first, then a paired Bluetooth thermal printer marked try a test print and a soundbar marked as not a printer

Desktop App · Settings → Printers & KDS → Detect printers → Other devices on this computer.

Always finish with a test print. A network printer can be probed, so the Desktop App genuinely knows when it goes away. A Bluetooth or USB printer shows as configured with its status unknown: the slip in your hand is the only real proof, on the phone and on the laptop alike.

Phone printing questions

Straight answers.

Which Bluetooth printers work?
Choose a 58 mm or 80 mm Bluetooth thermal printer that supports ESC/POS and is compatible with your exact Android phone. The ESC/POS label and paper width alone are not a guarantee. Before buying, pair the exact unit, run Test print and print a sample bill; check the text, width and cut. We do not publish a certified-model list because the actual unit and connection are the reliable compatibility check.
Can one Bluetooth printer serve two phones?
Use one active store-printing phone at a time. A Bluetooth printer holds one phone connection, and saving the same Wi-Fi printer IP on two phones does not coordinate their print jobs; two active phones can produce duplicate slips. To move printing, use Stop printing from this phone on the old phone first, then follow the Print from this phone prompts on the target.
Bluetooth thermal printer is not printing bills — what do I do?
Three things, in this order. One: is the printer on and the paper loaded right? Two: does the phone's Bluetooth settings still show the printer as paired? Three: has Android given EasyKOT the Nearby devices permission? Then tap Test print on the Device tab: the error it shows names the real cause.
Do I need internet to print over Bluetooth?
No. The phone talks to the printer directly over Bluetooth: the internet is not in that path at all. Orders, KOTs and bills all print with mobile data off and the shop's broadband dead.
Can I send a KOT to the kitchen from the same phone?
Yes. With Prints set to Everything, the same phone prints the kitchen ticket when you fire a round and the bill when you settle. If you would rather the KOT came off a separate roll, add a second printer and set one to KOTs and the other to Bills.
Is 58 mm wide enough for a GST bill?
Yes, 58 mm gives 32 characters a line and the bill lays itself out to fit. 80 mm gives 42 and is more comfortable for long dish names. A captain who will print bills needs the Connect phone QR from Staff & pay. That one-use QR gives the handset its own bill series; the captain still signs in with their own staff PIN.
How far can the phone be from the printer?
A few metres, and less through a wall: treat a Bluetooth printer as a counter printer that lives next to the phone. If the printer needs to sit in the kitchen while the phone walks the floor, use a Wi-Fi printer and give it an IP.

Next: run the whole restaurant from one phone · what a full service day on a phone looks like · printer not printing: the five checks · all EasyKOT guides

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