Overview
Fallback printers let your location keep printing visitor badges when the primary printer becomes unavailable. This article walks through how to assign a fallback printer to an iPad, what "compatible" means, and how to verify your setup. Only Brother QL-820NWB and Brother QL-720NW are eligible for this feature. Other printers connected via Envoy Print are not compatible.
How it works
Each iPad can have a primary printer and a fallback printer. Under normal conditions, visitor badges print to the primary. If the primary printer is unavailable, Envoy automatically prints to the fallback printer, so visitors keep moving through sign-in while you troubleshoot the primary printer.
✨Note: The fallback printer is assigned per iPad, not per location. If a location has more than one iPad, assign a fallback on each iPad that needs one.✨
Assigning a fallback printer
PREREQUISITES
To set up your fallback printer(s), you need:
A Visitor’s location with at least two badge printers already set up and paired. Learn how to connect a badge printer.
The printers must share a connection type (for example, both on the same network). A Bluetooth printer cannot serve as the fallback for a network printer, and vice versa.
Admin access to Visitors > Devices > iPads in the Envoy dashboard. This is available to Global and Location admins by default, but can also be delegated through a custom admin role.
Web Dashboard
Once you have all your prerequisites met:
Navigate to Visitors > Devices > iPads.
Find the iPad you want to configure.
On the iPad card, open the Fallback printer dropdown.
Select a compatible printer from the list. The setting saves automatically.
If the dropdown shows None as the only option, there are no other printers at this location with a matching connection type. Add or reconfigure a second printer first, then return to this step.
To remove a fallback printer:
On the specific iPad card, open the Fallback printer dropdown.
Select None. The setting saves automatically.
iPad
You can also manage the fallback printer directly from the Visitors Kiosk app.
On the iPad, tap and hold the Envoy icon at the top of the screen and enter the PIN to unlock the menu.
Select Printer Status Page.
Scroll to the FALLBACK section.
Tap Select printer.
Choose a compatible printer from the list and tap Done.
Verify your fallback printer
After assigning a fallback, confirm the printer is reachable by sending a test badge:
On the iPad, open the Printer Status Page in the Kiosk debug menu.
Under the FALLBACK panel, confirm the connection status shows as Connected.
Tap Print test badge under the FALLBACK panel. A test badge should print from the fallback printer within a few seconds.
If the test badge does not print, see Troubleshooting Printer Offline Status before leaving the fallback assigned.