My Experience with MyHeritage: Family tree & DNA
I picked up MyHeritage about six months ago when my old genealogy app, Ancestry, just got too annoying with constant upsells and a clunky interface that kept crashing on my iPhone 14. I needed something that worked fast and actually helped me build my family tree without begging me to upgrade every other swipe. At first, I was impressed—the tree builder is clean and I could add my grandparents in minutes. But the honeymoon ended last Tuesday night around 10 PM when I was trying to upload a batch of old family photos from a reunion my aunt sent me. The app froze three times and then lost two photos I’d already attached. I emailed support, got a generic response two days later telling me to “clear my cache,” which did nothing. I’m still waiting for a real fix. That said, when it works, it works. I traced a branch back to the 1700s using their record matches, and that felt great. But the unreliability kills the momentum for someone like me who hates wasted time.
Features Worth Noting
The Smart Matches feature is probably why I stick around—it automatically finds connections between my tree and others in their database. Last weekend, it popped up a match with a distant cousin in Ireland I never knew existed, and we exchanged a few messages. That’s cool. The photo colorization tool is also neat; I ran a black-and-white pic of my great-grandfather through it and it looked decent enough to print. DNA matching works smoothly—I got my ethnicity estimate in about three weeks after sending in my kit, and it matched what I expected. The historical records search is deep, but you really have to know what you’re looking for, otherwise you drown in irrelevant results. Honestly, the best part is how easy it is to invite family members to view or edit the tree. My sister joined last month and added a bunch of names I’d missed. That collaboration piece saves me hours of solo digging.
What Needs Work
Let’s start with the app’s instability. It crashes on my iPhone 14 at least once a week, usually when I’m in the middle of something tedious like scrolling through a huge list of record matches. That’s infuriating. The notification system is also a mess—I get alerts for things I don’t care about (like “someone viewed your tree”) but miss important ones about DNA matches. The search filters are clunky too; I tried last Wednesday to find a specific census record from 1910 for my grandfather, and I had to click through four menus to narrow it down. Way too many taps. Customer support is slow and vague—I’m still waiting for a follow-up on that photo upload bug I reported two weeks ago. For a paid service, that’s unacceptable. I’m not asking for instant chat, but a clear, helpful email within a day seems reasonable.
Pricing
MyHeritage isn’t cheap if you want full access. I signed up for the “Data” plan at about $179 per year, which unlocks historical records and advanced features. The free tier is basically a teaser—you can build a tree but can’t view most matches or records without paying. The DNA test itself cost extra (around $79), and they frequently push you to upgrade to a “Complete” plan for more tools. I hate that nickel-and-dime feeling. Compared to what I paid on Ancestry, it’s similar, but at least here I don’t feel like I’m paying for ads. Still, if you’re casual about genealogy, stick to free—or better yet, try FamilySearch, which is totally free and less pushy. But if you’re serious and willing to pay, the subscription delivers value, just not without frustration.
Developer Notes
MyHeritage.com has been around for a while, and they clearly invest in the tech—the AI photo tools and DNA analysis are legit. But they need to fix the mobile app bugs. Their desktop version is smoother, which makes me think they treat mobile as an afterthought. I get that building for iOS is tricky, but I’m paying for a service that should work on my phone. The developer responds to reviews on the App Store with generic copy-paste apologies, which feels hollow. I’d trade a fancy new colorization feature for a stable app that doesn’t crash during a Saturday morning research session. They’re based in Israel, so support hours might explain the slow response, but that’s not my problem. Ship a patch already.
Security & Privacy
This is a big one for me. You’re uploading family photos, connecting with relatives, and sharing DNA data—privacy matters. MyHeritage lets you control who sees your tree (private, public, or shared with specific people), and I keep mine locked down. They claim they don’t sell your DNA data to third parties, and they follow GDPR rules, which gives me some peace of mind. But I still don’t love that they default to sharing all your matches unless you manually opt out. I spent an hour after setting up my account digging through settings to turn off “find relatives” visibility. And there’s no two-factor authentication in the app, which feels sloppy for a company handling sensitive genetic info. For now, I trust it more than some other genealogy sites, but I’m watching closely. I wouldn’t upload anything truly private—like my living relatives’ addresses—without locking it down first.
How does the Smart Matches feature work in MyHeritage?
Smart Matches automatically finds connections between your family tree and other users' trees in the MyHeritage database. When a match is found, you can view the shared ancestor and even message the other user, like discovering a distant cousin in Ireland.
Can I invite family members to collaborate on my MyHeritage family tree?
Yes, you can easily invite family members to view or edit your tree. For example, the reviewer's sister joined and added names they had missed, which saves hours of solo research.
MyHeritage keeps crashing on my iPhone 14—what can I do?
The app is known to crash weekly, especially when scrolling through large record lists. Try clearing your cache first, but if the issue persists, contact support and request a specific fix, as generic responses may not resolve the instability.
Why am I missing important DNA match notifications in MyHeritage?
The notification system can be cluttered, sending alerts for less important events like 'someone viewed your tree' while missing DNA match updates. Check your notification settings in the app to prioritize DNA-related alerts.
How does MyHeritage compare to Ancestry for genealogy research?
MyHeritage offers a cleaner tree builder and faster performance than Ancestry, which the reviewer found clunky and full of upsells. However, MyHeritage suffers from app instability and slow customer support, while Ancestry may have more reliable performance for some users.
