Cloud print software and hardware maker AstroPrint releases new mobile app for iOS and Android. With it, its mobile users gain print management and monitoring on the go.

As Halloween draws near, we can’t help but think about the spookier stuff in life. You know, skeletons (there’s one inside all of us!), ghosts, astral projection… things like that.

That last one’s pretty interesting actually. Out of body experiences; the supposed ability to observe events from outside your body. Sure would be useful.

Well, it may not be astral but US company AstroPrint (badum tsh — two paragraph setup for a pun) gives just such an ability when it comes to 3D printing.

Previously the company released a bunch of different kits, boxes and gizmos (including the recently crowdfunded AstroBox Touch) to hook otherwise offline 3D printers up to the internet for plug-and-play cloud-based remote print management.

And now AstroPrint has lifted the lid on its new AstroPrint Mobile apps for the iOS and Android platforms.  Part of a complete ecosystem designed to simplify the processes of 3D printing, this new mobile app adds an on-the-go arrow to their quiver of sharp print-pushing solutions.

What Can AstroPrint Mobile Do?

The app seems to be more than a one trick pony, offering an array of tools and management options that would enhance any makers’ quality of life for printing.

Central to all of it is the file manager, the glue around which the various parts stick. Here users can organize and send STL files to connected printers. It’s even possible to order the model for printing with print service i.materialise.

Model acquisition is also a part of AstroPrint Mobile. It’s possible within the app to browse Thingiverse and download files directly to your personal library. And beyond that, then slice them for printing using AstroPrint’s cloud-based slicer.

Besides the file manager, you can remotely monitor prints (provided you have the camera setup present on your machine). In its current state this is limited only to image snapshots, rather than a live stream of the print. AstroPrint claim this will come to the app at a later date.

Another useful feature is push notifications upon print completion. But perhaps the coolest thing that we could forsee getting the most use in the All3DP office is print analytics. Snappily visualized data such as print time, material usage and print completions vs. failures all feed in to a bigger picture of your printing habits.

Best of all is that the prints and print settings are repeatable. This means that successful prints from way back when can be recalled to print again should you wish.

Of course, this is all gleamed from AstroPrint’s release regarding the app launch. We’ve yet to go hands on with the system to see if any of it is as good in practice. But on first impressions alone, it’s looking pretty fine.