Yesterday, I participated in a phone call with Ancestry that gave updates on the latest rollouts for their products. There are some important updates that they mentioned regarding AncestryDNA.
- Ancestry has processed 18 million DNA kits to date. This number is not reflective of the number of kits sold but is reflective of the number of kits processed and makes AncestryDNA, by far, the largest database among the top DNA companies.
- Longest segment of DNA for you and matches. An update will soon give you the ability to see the longest segment that you and a DNA match shares on that match’s profile page (See the example in the image above).
- Removal of matches smaller than 8cM. Coming soon, you will not see DNA matches that are less 8cM of total DNA shared. In an effort to reduce two-thirds of the total number of false matches, Ancestry has moved to no longer display matches below this amount.
- Don’t fret. You can still save matches under 8cM. There are a few ways to do this:
- 1) Color code them
- 2) Correspond with them through the messaging system
- 3) Make notes for them in their profile page
You should still be able to see matches under the 8cM threshold if you take one of the steps above.
Sound off below. Do you think these changes will positively or negative affect your genetic genealogy?
Edited to add the accompanying white paper on the changes.