There are many factors that can affect a QR reader's ability to scan a QR mosaic. In essence, this is not different from scanning an ordinary QR code printed on a piece of paper. Factors that can affect scannability in all physical mediums include the quality of the QR scanner, the distance from the camera to the QR image, the camera angle, the lighting, sun-glare, etc.

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While QR Mosaics are generally very readable, there are some unique factors with the mosaics that make some mosaics more readable than others. The artist that created the QR Mosaics is trying to balance the aesthetic qualities of the mosaic with the scanability of the QR code contained in the mosaic. Some factors that affect the readability of QR mosaics are the contrast of the two primary tile colors (known in the QR business as "modules"), the consistency of colors of the two contrasting modules, the neatness of the placement of the tiles, and width of the grout between the tiles.

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When selecting a QR mosaic for yourself, or your organization, both aesthetic qualities, and scanability should be considered. The aesthetic qualities may well be in the eye of the beholder, while scanability is a measurement that can be objectively derived by scan-testing.

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To obtain a rating for a QR mosaic's scanability, each QR was tested against a sample set of QR readers. So as not to falsify the scan rating by cherry-picking the QR readers to suit, the QR readers were selected from an independent report of the best QR readers on the market, and that list can be found at this URL: