The Muster App prints visitor badges to a Brother label printer over WiFi. Setting one up is a one-time job — once paired, every iPad on your vessel can print to the same printer automatically. This guide covers picking the right printer, getting it on the network, and printing your first badge.
Which printer to buy
We support and recommend the Brother QL-820NWB. It's a thermal label printer (no ink, no toner — just rolls of label paper) with built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet. It's the printer we test against, the printer we recommend to new customers, and the printer that's already paired on most of the vessels using The Muster App.
Other Brother models from the QL series may also work — for example the QL-810W or QL-1110NWB — but the QL-820NWB is the safest bet because it's the one we know works without any quirks.
You'll also need 62mm × 100mm DK-1202 shipping labels (the white die-cut ones). Brother sells them in packs of 300. One pack lasts most yachts about a year.
For more recommendations, see the Recommended Hardware page on our marketing site.
1. Get the printer on your WiFi network
Out of the box, the QL-820NWB needs to be put on the same WiFi network as your iPad. Brother provides a setup tool called Brother iPrint&Label on the App Store — install it on your iPad temporarily, follow Brother's wizard to connect the printer to your WiFi, and then you can delete the Brother app. The Muster App talks to the printer directly without needing Brother's app.
Alternatively, if your vessel has a wired network, plug the printer in via Ethernet and it'll get an IP address automatically — no setup tool needed.
Once the printer is on the network, the small WiFi indicator on the front of the printer will be solid green. If it's flashing or red, the printer isn't connected.
2. Discover the printer from the iPad
Open The Muster App on your iPad. Tap the menu icon, then go to Settings → Printer. You'll see a screen titled "Badge Printer" with a button labelled Discover printers.
Tap Discover printers. The iPad scans the local network for any compatible Brother printer. After a few seconds, your printer appears in the list as Brother QL-820NWB with its IP address and current status (online / offline).
If your printer doesn't appear:
- Make sure the iPad and the printer are on the same WiFi network. Many vessels have separate guest and crew networks — they're isolated from each other
- Check the printer's WiFi indicator is solid green (not flashing)
- Try restarting the printer (power off, wait 10 seconds, power on)
- The Muster App needs Local Network permission on the iPad to discover devices on the LAN. If you denied that during setup, go to iOS Settings → The Muster App → Local Network and enable it
3. Pair the printer
Tap your printer in the list. The iPad pairs with it and remembers it for future sessions. The status indicator at the top of the Settings screen flips to green ("connected") and you'll see the printer's name and label size.
The pairing is stored on the iPad locally. Each iPad on the vessel needs to be paired separately — but you only do it once per iPad, and they all talk to the same printer.
4. Print a test badge
From the Printer settings screen, tap Print test badge. The printer prints a small test label with sample visitor data so you can verify the layout, the orientation, and the print quality. If the label comes out properly, you're done. If it comes out garbled, see the troubleshooting section below.
5. Customise the badge layout
By default, every visitor badge prints with the visitor's name, the company they're visiting, the host they're meeting, the date, and a photo. You can customise the badge from the admin panel under Visitors → Badge Settings. Things you can change:
- Add a logo (your vessel's logo or the management company's logo) — uploaded once, prints on every badge
- Toggle the visitor photo on or off
- Change the displayed fields (name, company, host, date, etc.)
- Adjust the badge title text (e.g. "Visitor", "Contractor", "Day Worker")
Changes save instantly and apply to the next badge printed from any iPad.
Troubleshooting
Badge prints blank
The most common cause is the wrong label size loaded. The Muster App is configured for 62mm × 100mm DK-1202 labels by default. If you have a different size loaded, the print will misalign and you'll get a blank or partial badge. Check the label roll, replace it with DK-1202 if needed, and try the test badge again.
Badge prints rotated
The QL-820NWB can be configured for portrait or landscape orientation in its own settings. If your badges come out rotated 90 degrees, use Brother iPrint&Label to set the printer's default orientation to portrait, then test again.
"Printer offline" banner on the iPad
The iPad pings the printer every few minutes to confirm it's still reachable. If the printer goes to sleep, gets powered off, or loses WiFi, you'll see a yellow "Printer offline" banner at the top of the iPad. Tap the banner to dismiss it for an hour, or wake the printer up and the banner will clear automatically.
Multiple printers on one network
If you have more than one Brother printer on your WiFi network, both will show up in the discovery list. Pair the one with the IP address you want — the iPad will only print to the paired one.
That's it
Once your printer is paired and a test badge prints clean, every visitor check-in from this iPad will print a badge automatically as part of the check-in flow. The visitor signs in, takes a photo, agrees to the terms, and the badge prints — all in under 30 seconds.
If you have multiple iPads on the vessel, repeat steps 2 and 3 on each one to pair them with the same printer.