How to Connect your Canon using Built-In WiFi

This article will help you connect everything with your Canon camera. Don’t connect your devices directly to the camera, because then you won’t have internet access for Dropbox and other functionality.

Recommended: Using a Wireless Router

If you have a dedicated wireless router that you can connect everything to (including portable 3G units like MiFi), then it is easy:

Make sure that the iPad’s wifi is connected to the router you will connect everything to
Start the WiFi Booth app and hit “Built-In Wifi”. Leave the app running.
On the Canon, turn on wifi. Here’s where to find it:
While turning on wifi, you need to make a choice of the wifi mode. Choose smartphone mode. That’s the top-middle one:
Make sure you connect the camera in infrastructure mode to the same wifi network that the iPad is connected to. You can choose auto IP settings.
After a few moments (in rare cases, it can take up to a minute or two!), the app automatically finds the camera and asks to connect to it. On the camera, you’ll see that WiFi Booth is requesting to connect. Hit OK to allow connection. Your camera will save these settings so that next time all you have to do is turn on the camera, and start wifi and the rest is automatic. Only after you’ve accepted the initial connection on the camera (once) does the app show that the camera is connected.
Configure your camera to save JPG (either only JPG, or JPG+RAW; the app will not download RAW files), and make sure the resolution is not too high. Remember, printing resolution is only 1800×1200 pixels in most cases, so more is overkill and just makes your iPad drain its battery faster. If photos arriving on the iPad are huge, you’ll get a warning.
Photos you take will automatically appear in the app. You can trigger the camera manually (ie. with a radio trigger), or use the iPad to trigger the camera, or use the iPhone/Watch app to trigger the camera.
Get your printers on the same wifi network, and add them in the app’s settings screen. Done!

Using an iPhone’s Personal Hotspot

If you have an iPhone that can use the Personal Hotspot feature, then:

Turn on Personal Hotspot on the iPhone. Leave the iPhone on the Personal Hotspot screen while you configure or connect devices — see the section below for why.
Connect your iPad’s wifi to the iPhone’s Personal Hotspot
Connect your printer(s) wifi to the Personal Hotspot. At this point your iPhone no longer has to be on the Personal Hotspot screen.
Start the WiFi Booth app and hit “Built-In Wifi”. Leave the app running.
On the Canon, turn on wifi. Here’s where to find it:
While turning on wifi, you need to make a choice of the wifi mode. Choose smartphone mode. That’s the top-middle one:
Make sure you connect the camera in infrastructure mode to the same wifi network that the iPad is connected to. You can choose auto IP settings.
After a few moments (in rare cases, it can take up to a minute or two!), the app automatically finds the camera and asks to connect to it. On the camera, you’ll see that WiFi Booth is requesting to connect. Hit OK to allow connection. Your camera will save these settings so that next time all you have to do is turn on the camera, and start wifi and the rest is automatic. Only after you’ve accepted the initial connection on the camera (once) does the app show that the camera is connected.
Configure your camera to save JPG (either only JPG, or JPG+RAW; the app will not download RAW files), and make sure the resolution is not too high. Remember, printing resolution is only 1800×1200 pixels in most cases, so more is overkill and just makes your iPad drain its battery faster. If photos arriving on the iPad are huge, you’ll get a warning.
Photos you take will automatically appear in the app. You can trigger the camera manually (ie. with a radio trigger), or use the iPad to trigger the camera, or use the iPhone/Watch app to trigger the camera.

Tip: Ensure the blue bar at the top of your iPhone (Personal Hotspot) is always showing at least 1 device connected (ie. your iPad, or 2 if you have a printer as well). As soon as nothing is connected, the Personal Hotspot is no longer reachable — even if Personal Hotspot is still ‘on’. See the section below for details.

Using the WiFi Booth iPad’s Personal Hotspot

Otherwise, if the iPad that runs WiFi Booth can use the Personal Hotspot feature (requires the iPad to have a SIM card), and you have at least one other device that can stay connected to the iPad’s Personal Hotspot all the time (like a Canon Selphy printer) in order to keep it active, then:

Turn on Personal Hotspot on the iPad. Leave the iPad on the Personal Hotspot screen while you configure or connect devices — see the section below for why.
Connect a wireless device to the iPad which will stay connected, like a Canon Selphy printer. You can use an iPhone to hold the connection open too, but iPhones eventually drop their wireless connection if they are not used for some time, so be careful. Once you’ve done this, the iPad doesn’t have to stay on the Personal Hotspot screen anymore.
If you didn’t already, connect your printer(s) wifi to the iPad’s Personal Hotspot
Start the WiFi Booth app and hit “Built-In Wifi”. Leave the app running.
On the Canon, turn on wifi. Here’s where to find it:
While turning on wifi, you need to make a choice of the wifi mode. Choose smartphone mode. That’s the top-middle one:
Make sure you connect the camera in infrastructure mode to the same wifi network that the iPad is connected to. You can choose auto IP settings.
After a few moments (in rare cases, it can take up to a minute or two!), the app automatically finds the camera and asks to connect to it. On the camera, you’ll see that WiFi Booth is requesting to connect. Hit OK to allow connection. Your camera will save these settings so that next time all you have to do is turn on the camera, and start wifi and the rest is automatic. Only after you’ve accepted the initial connection on the camera (once) does the app show that the camera is connected.
Configure your camera to save JPG (either only JPG, or JPG+RAW; the app will not download RAW files), and make sure the resolution is not too high. Remember, printing resolution is only 1800×1200 pixels in most cases, so more is overkill and just makes your iPad drain its battery faster. If photos arriving on the iPad are huge, you’ll get a warning.
Photos you take will automatically appear in the app. You can trigger the camera manually (ie. with a radio trigger), or use the iPad to trigger the camera, or use the iPhone/Watch app to trigger the camera.

Tip: Ensure the blue bar at the top of your iPad (Personal Hotspot) is always showing at least 1 device connected (ie. your printer). As soon as nothing is connected, the Personal Hotspot is no longer reachable — even if Personal Hotspot is still ‘on’. See the section below for details.

Are you stuck? Please ask for help in the WiFi Booth Community!

iPad/iPhone Personal Hotspot Feature

It’s a simple feature right? Well… no! Here are some gotchas:

The Personal Hotspot feature only works when a SIM card is inserted
Your SIM card provider (your cellular provider) can disable Personal Hotspot so that you cannot turn it on. So if you can’t find this option, that might be why!
When there are no wireless connections to your iPad/iPhone, then a new wireless connection will only be accepted if the iPad/iPhone is on the Personal Hotspot screen (ie. where the switch to turn Personal Hotspot on/off is located). If some other app is open (like WiFi Booth), and there are no wireless connections to your personal hotspot, then new incoming wireless connections will be rejected.
When there is at least one existing wireless connection to your iPad/iPhone, then a new wireless connection will be accepted no matter what screen or app the device is showing. This means that a device which is constantly wirelessly connected (like a Canon Selphy printer) can “hold open” the Personal Hotspot feature, so that other devices can connect. Note that the existing connection must be a wireless one — just having the iPad/iPhone connected to a computer etc will not do it