Instax-BLE

Control your Instax Mini Link printer from Python

This module can be used to control your Instax bluetooth printer from Python. Create an issue if you run into any trouble, but please read the rest of this readme first.

Did you find this script useful? Feel free to support my open source software:

Supported printer models

This script has been tested with the Instax Mini Link and the Instax Square Link, but should also work with the Mini Link 2 and Wide Link. I'm unsure about some of the other models, but maybe? If you have a different model let met know if this code works for you. If it doesn't you can find some info on recording the bluetooth data between your phone and the printer here (Android) and here (IOS). The IOS logs are strongly prefered as Android uses a slightly different way of communicating.

@ Fuijfilm: feel free to send some of your other models if you want me to support those as well ;)

Model	Tested
Instax Mini Link	✔️
Instax Mini Link 2	⚪
Instax Mini LiPlay	⚪
Instax Square Link	✔️
Instax Square Wide	✔️

Image sizes accepted by the printers

The image send to the printer should be a JPEG at a specific image size, depending on the printer model. This script will automatically convert, resize and reduce quality to match the required specifications. For best results though, ypou might want to prepare your image yourself beforehand so you keep control over the settings. The needed image sizes are:

Model	Image size
Instax Mini Link	600 x 800px
Instax Mini Link 2	600 x 800px (a guess)
Instax Mini LiPlay	600 x 800px (a guess)
Instax Square Link	800 x 800px
Instax Square Wide	1260 x 840px

Alternatives

Don't need Python and just want to print? This website based on InstaxBLE lets you print to your Instax printer straight from your browser (repo over here). Working with one of the older WiFi enabled Instax printers instead? Give Instax-api a try!.

Installing and running

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/javl/InstaxBLE.git
cd InstaxBLE

# create a virtual environment and install the needed dependencies
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the example
python3 instax-ble.py

Useful to know

1. Printing is disabled by default

By default the instax.print_image() method will send all data to the printer except the final print command. This is to prevent accidental prints when you're still testing your code. To allow printing either call instax.enable_printing() at any time after creating your InstaxBLE instance or enable it at creation time by specifying print_enabled=True in the constructor:

instax = InstaxBLE()
instax.connect()
instax.enable_printing()  # allow printing
instax.print_image('image.jpg')  # print image
instax.disconnect()  # all done, disconnect

instax = InstaxBLE(print_enabled=True)  # enable printing at Initialization
instax.connect()
instax.print_image('image.jpg')  # print image
instax.disconnect()  # all done, disconnect

2. Connecting to a specific printer

By default, this script will connect to the first Instax printer it can find, but you can also specify the name (device_name) or address (device_address) of the printer you want to connect to:

# use the first printer that we can find:
instax = InstaxBle()
# Connect to a printer by device name. Ommit the (Android) or (IOS) part you might see in your Bluetooth settings:
instax = InstaxBle(device_name='INSTAX-12345678')
# Connect to a printer by device address (probably starts with FA:AB:BC):
instax = InstaxBle(device_address='FA:AB:BC:xx:xx:xx')

3. Gracefully disconnect on Exceptions

It's recommended to wrap your code inside a try / except / finally loop so you can catch any errors (or KeyboardInterrupts) and disconnect from the printer gracefully before dropping out of your code. Otherwise you might have to manually restart your printer for it to connect again.

    try:
        instax = InstaxBle()
        instax.connect()
        instax.enable_printing()
        instax.print_image('image.jpg')
    except Exception as e:
        print(e)
    finally:
        instax.disconnect()

Notes on usage

The final image send to the printer should be a JPEG at a specific size (depends on the printer model, see the list above). This script will convert and resize your image if needed, but for best results you might want to prepare the image in the right format yourself. Just keep that in mind if you get unexpected results in quality. I also don't know what happens when you try to print an image in the wrong orientation.

Todo / Possible updates:

Testing:

✔️ Test on Linux
✔️ Test on MacOS
⬜ Test on Raspberry Pi
⬜ Test on Windows

Printer info:

Some of these options have already been explored in other branches, but I need to bring them into the main branch.

✔️ Get battery level
✔️ Get number of photo's left in cartridge
✔️ Get accelerometer data
⬜ Get button press

Image enhancements:

I'm not sure what happens when you send a different filetype or image in landscape orientation, but assuming those will fail:

✔️ Resize if image too small or too large (actual size depending on printer model)
✔️ Resize if file size too large (max 65535 bytes)
⬜ Auto rotate image to portrait before sending
⬜ Convert to jpg if given a different filetype
⬜ Strip exif data to decrease filesize
✔️ Automatically lower the quality of the image to keep images below the 65535 bytes (0xFF 0xFF) file limit

Credit

Huge thank you to everyone in this instax-api thread (and @hermanneduard specifically) for their help in reverse engineering the Bluetooth protocol used.
Thanks to @kdewald for his help and patience in getting simplepyble to work.
Test pattern image: Test Pattern Vectors by Vecteezy

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

JettIsOnTheNet / InstaxBLE