MyHeritage has made some additions to the DNA side of their business that has the genealogy community talking. A couple of weeks ago I told you about how they’d improved their matching algorithms but they haven’t stopped there.
Now, whether you’ve tested with MyHeritage or whether you’ve transferred your raw data from, Ancestry, Family Tree DNA or 23andMe you can now contact your matches without having a MyHeritage subscription. So messages to your matches are FREE to view and FREE to respond to.
Making contact is easy. All you have to do is click the contact button. The message is handled through MyHeritage’s message system so your personal email is not revealed. There still is no guarantee that your match will answer but now you don’t have to spend money to find that out. I like the fact that with MyHeritage it doesn’t seem to be all about the money.
(photo from the MyHeritage blog)
The other addition that MyHeritage DNA has made is their beta version of ethnicities from around the world. This is based on the data they receive from their users. Not all countries have data but as the information is gathered I’m sure that will change.
Here’s what Canada’s breakdown looks like and I have revealed what my own DNA looks like compared to their information.
Nothing too surprising here for Canada and mine is similar but with some different percentages. My percentages are different than what is shown on other sites. For instance, at Ancestry, I show 40% English, 35% European West, 11% Iberian 7% Scandinavian, 5% Irish and 2% Europe South. But each company has their own data set to compare with.
What I found interesting is that when I click on each of my percentages the map below shows all the countries where their data shows that DNA is found.
So if you haven’t tested at MyHeritage or if you have raw data from another site you may want to consider transferring your raw data over. With their improved matching system, FREE contact to your matches and new ethnicities map you have another way to connect with cousins. After all, isn’t that what we are all trying to do? I know I’m always looking for cousins.
I tried contacting a person and no luck “this function is part of Enhanced Smart Matching which is available to Premium or PremiumPlus members of MyHeritage only. An upgrade of your site is required, and that will allow you to contact an unlimited number of people regarding your Smart Matches.”
I had transferred my fathers from FTDNA months ago.
“Now, whether you’ve tested with MyHeritage or whether you’ve transferred your raw data from, Ancestry, Family Tree DNA or 23andMe you can now contact your matches without having a MyHeritage subscription. So messages to your matches are FREE to view and FREE to respond to”.
Cheryl,
Please have a look at the MyHeritage blog which states, “Please note that contacting DNA Matches has been made free, but contacting users through some other contexts (e.g., Smart Matches) still requires a subscription.”
How did you get the screen showing your % vs. all of Canada? I’m in the US and I don’t seem to get this. Is this a something not offered in the US? Or perhaps not offered ot those who have transferred data from another company (as I have)?
It should be available to you as I transferred my data to MyHeritage too. First go to the ethnicities map then choose the country you want to look at. At the top of the map on the right hand side you should see “show your DNA results”.
Thanks@ I found it. Appreciate the help. It’s very informative to see the demographics of the data your personal DNA is being compared against – and I would expect that to change over time as additional people submit their DNA samples to MyHeritage.