Instant cameras that print photos from your phone

#	Product	Best for	Cost per shot	Price
1	Fujifilm instax mini EvoA real instax camera that also prints your camera roll onto instax film.	Best overall	$0.85	Check price
2	Kodak Mini Shot 2 RetroCamera and phone printer in one, on the cheapest print media we verified.	Cheapest to run	$0.42	Check price
3	Kodak Mini Shot 3 RetroThe square-format Mini Shot, at the same 42 cents a print.	Best for square prints	$0.42	Check price
4	Fujifilm instax mini Link 3A printer, not a camera — and better at printing than any hybrid here.	Best if you only need the printing half	$0.85	Check price

Why most instant cameras cannot do this

A classic instant camera is a sealed optical machine: light comes through the lens, lands on a sheet of film, and the chemistry does the rest. There is no digital stage anywhere in that process, so there is nothing for a phone to send a photograph to. That is true of the instax mini 12, the mini 13, the mini 41, the mini 99, the SQUARE SQ40, the instax WIDE 400 and every current Polaroid camera.

The cameras that can print from a phone all work differently. They shoot to a digital sensor, show the result on a screen, and then print it — which means the printing stage will accept an image from anywhere, including a phone over Bluetooth. That is why every camera on this page has a screen, and why none of the simple ones do.

What to look for

1. 1.Which media it uses. Real instax film, ZINK paper and Kodak 4PASS cartridges cost 85, 60 and 42 cents per print respectively. Over a year that is the dominant cost.
2. 2.Whether it prints HEIF. iPhones shoot HEIF by default. The instax mini Link 3 lists HEIF support explicitly; anything that only accepts JPEG may need the phone's format changed.
3. 3.Screen size. This is the whole reason to buy a hybrid. A 3 inch screen is usable; a 1.7 inch viewfinder is a confirmation, not a composition tool.
4. 4.Print finish. 4PASS and dye-sublimation prints come out dry and laminated. Instant film needs a minute and a flat surface.
5. 5.Whether it is really a camera. If the recipient will only ever print phone photos, buy a printer and spend the saving on media.

The picks in detail

1. Best overall

Fujifilm instax mini Evo

A real instax camera that also prints your camera roll onto instax film.

Buy it for

Anyone who wants one object to replace both a camera and a phone printer.

Skip it if

A buyer chasing the lowest cost per print — the Kodaks are half the price to feed.

• •Prints photographs from a phone over Bluetooth, and shoots its own on an f/2.0 autofocus lens.
• •Prints on standard instax mini film, which is the most widely stocked film in the category at about 85 cents a shot.
• •A 3.0 inch screen means you print only what you choose, from either source.
• •Approximately 16 seconds a print and about 100 prints per charge.
• •Stores around 45 images internally with a microSD slot for more.

Running cost: instax mini works out at $0.85 a shot. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.6/10 overall

• Phone printing9
• As a camera9
• Cost per print6
• Ease for a beginner7

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

Engadget, which publishes hands-on reviews, calls it “marries the vintage charm of instant photography with digital shooting”.

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2. Cheapest to run

Kodak Mini Shot 2 Retro

Camera and phone printer in one, on the cheapest print media we verified.

Buy it for

Someone who will print a lot and does not need instax film specifically.

Skip it if

A buyer who wants the look of a real instax or Polaroid print with its white frame.

• •4PASS dye-sublimation prints at about 42 cents each — half the cost of instax mini film.
• •Prints are dry, laminated and not sticky, so they survive a wallet or a fridge door.
• •A 13MP camera with a 1.7 inch viewfinder screen, so you see the frame before spending a sheet.
• •Prints from a phone over Bluetooth, and over USB-C with the included Lightning adapter.
• •255 g and 132.4 x 78.2 x 25.8 mm, so it genuinely goes in a coat pocket.

Running cost: Kodak 4PASS 2.1 x 3.4 works out at $0.42 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $169.97 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.3/10 overall

• Phone printing9
• As a camera6
• Cost per print10
• Ease for a beginner8

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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3. Best for square prints

Kodak Mini Shot 3 Retro

The square-format Mini Shot, at the same 42 cents a print.

Buy it for

A recipient who wants the square Polaroid-ish shape without Polaroid film prices.

Skip it if

Anyone who needs the print to be real instant film rather than dye-sublimation.

• •A 3 x 3 inch square print for about 42 cents, against about $1.15 for instax SQUARE film.
• •Same 4PASS laminated finish — dry to the touch and resistant to fingerprints.
• •Bluetooth phone printing plus its own camera in one body.
• •Usually sold as a bundle that includes a cartridge, so the first prints are included.

Running cost: Kodak 4PASS 3 x 3 works out at $0.42 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $189.97 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.1/10 overall

• Phone printing9
• As a camera6
• Cost per print10
• Ease for a beginner8

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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4. Best if you only need the printing half

Fujifilm instax mini Link 3

A printer, not a camera — and better at printing than any hybrid here.

Buy it for

Someone whose photographs all already exist on a phone.

Skip it if

A recipient who wants to point a camera at something and get a print.

• •318 dpi onto real instax mini film, with a print in about 15 seconds.
• •Bluetooth 5.1, and it accepts JPEG, PNG, HEIF and DNG — HEIF matters, because that is what an iPhone shoots.
• •210 g without a film cartridge, and about 100 prints per charge.
• •No lens to compromise, so the whole price goes into the printing.

Running cost: instax mini works out at $0.85 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $201.94 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores7.9/10 overall

• Phone printing10
• As a camera0
• Cost per print6
• Ease for a beginner8

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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Read the full review

Cost per print, which decides this over a year

Instax film or dye-sublimation: what you are choosing between

The Evo prints on genuine instax mini film, so the print is the familiar white-framed object that develops in front of you. The Kodaks print by dye sublimation, laying down color in four passes and then a laminate layer. The result is dry immediately, water resistant and fingerprint resistant — and it does not have the instax frame.

Which you want depends entirely on whether the frame is the point. For a keepsake pinned to a wall, the instax print is what people picture. For prints that go in a wallet, a scrapbook or a card, the laminated 4PASS print is the more durable object and costs half as much. Our ZINK vs instax comparison covers the third technology in this group.

What about Polaroid?

No current Polaroid camera prints from a phone. Polaroid's answer is a separate device, the Hi-Print 2x3 Generation 2 — a dye-sublimation pocket printer that works from the Polaroid app at about 85 cents a print. It is a printer, not a camera, and it does not use Polaroid instant film. If you want the Polaroid name on a phone printer, that is the product; our Hi-Print review covers it, and instax mini Link vs Polaroid Hi-Print sets it against the Fujifilm equivalent.

Deciding between a camera and a printer in the first place is its own question, and we answer it on instant camera vs photo printer.