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The 23andMe Family Tree Feature

The Family Tree is a feature that automatically predicts a family tree based on the DNA you share with your relatives in 23andMe. The Family Tree feature is listed in the Family & Friends menu.

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How it works

When you opt-in and participate in DNA Relatives or make one-to-one connections with other 23andMe customers, 23andMe compares your DNA and ages and predicts your genetic relationships.

To build your predicted family tree, we then go a step further: we also look at the predicted relationships between your relatives, and calculate many different ways you could all be related to each other. The tree you see represents the most likely tree out of all the possibilities we calculated.

If you choose to opt in to DNA Relatives, your Family Tree shows your close family members (3rd cousin or closer) that have been genotyped by 23andMe and who have also opted into the DNA Relatives tool. Additionally, any close family members with whom you have established a sharing connection will also be added to your tree.

Because the Family Tree predictions use only DNA and age, the identities of your predicted ancestors are unknown. When you determine which of your family members or ancestors links you to a particular DNA relative, you can manually write them into the correct position in the tree. Only you can view the information you add about living family members. Any information you add about ancestors that you mark as deceased can be seen by DNA relatives and connections.

 

Editing Your Tree

At this time, you are only able to add information about certain non-genotyped relatives. To add information about a relative:

  1. Click on the node and select the “Add basic info” button.
  2. Fill in the information that you have for this relative.
  3. Be sure to click save to have this information added to your tree.

For more editing tips, visit our How to Build and Edit Your Family Tree article.

Privacy

The information you add to your tree about living relatives will only be visible to you. However, you can invite up to 5 connections to view your full DNA Relatives Family Tree. Tree viewers can see all the self-reported relatives in your tree, any Relatives in Common (both relatives must be participating in DNA Relatives), and any mutual connections. To add tree viewers, click the "Invite viewers" button and either choose from your existing connections or invite a new person to connect and view your tree. Review or remove tree viewers at any time through the "Invite viewers" button or through your account settings.