HP+ is designed to optimize your printer experience, but can it save you money?
We've broken down HP's HP+ printer service.
Credit:
HP
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HP printers have gotten me and legions of young people through schooling, whether you've shared your printer with a crew of roommates during finals week or you've toted your trusty printer to and from your next academic venture. With graduation season upon us, you may be figuring out what you need for the next school year or for your next job, be that offloading old tech, rearranging your subscriptions, or restructuring your home office.
If you're busy staging your next move, you might want to take advantage of free services for tech products you're considering investing in. HP is home to HP+, which is the cloud-printing service from HP that comes with some HP printers. We've broken down the details of the service below.
What is HP+?
Connect your smartphone and your printer with HP+.
HP+ is an additional service from HP that provides cloud-based printing and perks for your printer. The service is not a subscription; you can select HP+ enabled printers at the time of your printer purchase, giving you access to the service for no additional cost. In order to utilize HP+ at setup, you simply need internet connection and an HP account.
What can you get with HP+
HP+ has several perks associated with cloud-based printing and the lifetime of your HP printer, including:
- Extended printer warranty up to six months
- Six months of HP Instant Ink
- Forest First printing and cartridge recycling
- Advanced HP Smart app features and smart printing enhancement
How does HP+ improve smart printing?
HP+ is designed to improve your printer's security and efficiency. The smart features include protecting your print jobs whether you're printing at home or remotely, and refocusing your printer's resources toward saving you money and energy. Additionally, printing with HP+ will cause every page you print to contribute to Forest First, HP's environmental pledge to plant new trees, and you'll be able to recycle your printer cartridges.
Enrolling in HP+ with the app allows you to print, scan, and more from the HP app on your phone or mobile device. While you can already take advantage of the perks of the HP app without HP+, the service improves the elements of the app, including the addition of updated photo scanning, mobile faxing, and Google Suite connectivity.
One of the biggest things to note about HP+ is that when you use the service, you're committing to using HP ink cartridges only. The printer will recognize the chips in the cartridges, so HP+ benefits won't be compatible with a non-HP ink or toner cartridge.
How can you connect HP+ to HP Instant Ink?
HP+ can be connected to HP Instant Ink when you purchase an HP+ enabled printer. HP Instant Ink is a subscription-based service that ships ink to you automatically when your printer is running low. You select your plan based on your monthly page output, and you can rollover pages month to month. As we noted, connecting HP Instant Ink to HP+ will give you six free months of the subscription service, so if you've been considering enrolling using your HP+ activation to do it might be the move. Otherwise, connecting with HP+ doesn't seem to add any perks for the Instant Ink service beyond the initial trial run.
How can you activate HP+?
You can activate HP+ by ensuring that you're purchasing an HP+ enabled printer. The service is required at setup when you purchase laser printers from HP that come with HP+, but if you buy an inkjet, HP+ supported printer, you'll have the option not to sign up or use it to set up your printer.
Can HP+ save you money?
Any money to be saved through HP+ mostly takes place within the six free months of HP Instant Ink, so in that sense, yes, it can. The extended warranty is another perk that may save you money over the first few years of your printer purchase. Otherwise, you'll mostly be looking at optimization for services you already use with your HP printer, which may at least save you time.