Ancestry DNA membership features active

[Petros]

Free members now have
No more than 2 shared matches shown
No maternal/Paternal labelling
No ability to look at how common ancestors are connected
No view of any tree

[Biggles50]

Ancestry is a business after all so limitations are not surprising to me.

A very high proportion of DNA participants only seem to view their results and then vanish, the have  their Ethnicity results and that is all that many are interested in receiving.

[phil57]

But if a "free member" (registered guest)'s test is managed by a member with a subscription, all of those functions are still unrestricted to the test manager.

[AnotherDay]

The AncestryDNA changes have big implications for people who are actively using DNA for family history. Money is tight for many people - so they sometimes have an Ancestry subscription and sometimes don't. But until now, everyone could do a lot of family history by using the free tools on AncestryDNA. Some of those key tools (e.g. the automatic paternal/maternal designation, shared matches and the world map showing birth places) are no longer available without a general subscription or a AncestryDNA Plus subscription. And this also has big implications for people who 'permanently' have an Ancestry subscription. You will no longer be able to get key information from Billy-who-tested-for-Viking-DNA about whether a particular match is on his paternal or maternal side and what matches he shares with that match.

From a business point of view, I think the changes will cost Ancestry money. Previously, people who took a DNA test with Ancestry quite often ended up with a subscription (even if it was a sometimes, sometimes not, subscription). Now I think people will chose to make do with an AncestryDNA Plus subscription - and supplement it with free or cheaper options for family history research.

A comparison of non-subscription v. AncestryDNA Plus subscription:

https://support.ancestry.com.au/s/article/AncestryDNA-and-Memberships



 

[Ruskie]

Free members now have
No more than 2 shared matches shown
No maternal/Paternal labelling
No ability to look at how common ancestors are connected
No view of any tree

I’m not impressed.

It is one thing for future DNA testers to not have these features, if they are aware of them when taking the test.

To remove such basic features as these for people who tested previously believing they had access to these features, is pretty disgusting in my view.

Added: I just looked at my pathetic two “matches” and clicked through to see what would happen if I wanted to view more matches - was taken to a subscription page and was offered three months Worldwide subscription for AUD$1, which I took up. I will cancel before the autorenewal.

[Wexflyer]

Ancestry is a business after all so limitations are not surprising to me.

A very high proportion of DNA participants only seem to view their results and then vanish, the have  their Ethnicity results and that is all that many are interested in receiving.

Ancestry is a business, so they need to deliver what they commit to when they sell.

I bought multiple DNA tests. These features, now withdrawn, were part of what they undertook to deliver. I don't recall any wording saying that  what I bought was a transitory feature.  I think that is fraudulent.

And you and all those paying subscriptions are going to be impacted too. A cousin who is a match tells me I have disappeared from his matches, since my subscription recently lapsed. 

Overall, this makes me less likely to renew, rather than more.

So, as for people disappearing after taking a test - is this change going to increase or decrease that? I think it makes it all the more likely for people to disappear.

[TreeDigger]

After Ancestry acquired Geneanet, the latter ditched its DNA upload and genetic matching options in November 2023 due to "disappointing results". As MyHeritage (temporarily?) scratched the option to download both DNA match & segments lists around the same time, and sites like FTDNA also switched off that option due to 'upgrades', I wonder whether Ancestry is getting ready to finally add a chromosome browser & genetic matching option, or is just consolidating its dominance within the DNA testing world.

[Biggles50]

There comes a time when continuing Family Research comes up against “ The Law of Diminishing Returns”. 

Our trees go back beyond the Norman Invasion, but there is only so much you can add to the Family Tree before it becomes repetitive and boring.  Yes we found Gateway Ancestors and learning the history of what are distant family lines is all well and good and it does give the Grandkids an interest in their heritage.

We are not interested in producing a very large tree, it has taken 15 years to get to 7000 family members and over the last year I have probably only added about 200 and that is mainly due to finding a third Cousin and once we populate their lines that will be about it.

We have solved the DNA mysteries.

So Ancestry subscription is a Luxury, it is not really providing any real significant value to us and one day we will cease.

Presently we are writing the Family Stories, Creating the Videos, organising digital records and transferring Ancestry Trees to software that can be shared with direct family and Cousins.  For all this we do not really need Ancestry, unless I find I have a 1/2 sibling that I never knew existed.

A line has to be drawn at some point and all our research consolidated for the next generation.

[TreeDigger]

My conundrum is the fact my direct paternal line comes to a screeching halt in 1841, and nearly all matches tying into that branch are on Ancestry. My mother's side has been thoroughly researched well beyond the 14th Century and even further back on some branches (yay for well documented aristocratic bastards) and most of the other paternal branches get extended step by step.

Just this one branch, the one carrying the paternal family name, refuses to be anything more than a stump on the trunk. So I still need Ancestry for that, as well as for the fact most of Mom's family is like a virus, spreading all over Europe.