Living DNA November Update- You Shared and we Listened

It’s been an exciting month at Living DNA with many firsts to celebrate.

One of the highlights for us has been hearing about the new matches you’ve discovered through Family Networks. Even though we only released to a small beta test group, we were delighted to help a number of people to connect with relatives they didn’t know existed until they tested with us. We even had a user, who was able to find her half-sibling through Living DNA.

This helps to show that if you’re interested in finding relatives and matches, you need to test wherever there is a database. Due to our strong stance on user privacy and refusal to sell DNA, we have a unique set of individuals that choose only to test with us.

When it comes to finding relatives it’s not just down to database size but where your relative has chosen to test.

What’s gone live

You’re now able to adjust your user settings in the portal, including the ability to edit your personal details and create a display name.

What we learned from your feedback; a better matching experience

We’ve been testing the first stages of Family Networks on a small group of people, and based on their feedback, we’re working on making the experience better for you. Here’s what’s coming next:

1. Shared cM predictions whilst already accurate and undergoing further refinement
2. Shared DNA percentages have been adjusted
3. Messaging will be the next key feature to release to allow DNA matches to contact each other

Findmypast DNA

We launched our partnership with findmypast this month, meaning you can have an extended trial of their record database.

Over the coming months, we’ll continue the integration with findmypast and will let you link your family trees and records to your DNA profile.

A new look website

Some of you may have noticed that LivingDNA.com has a brand new look. The new website comes after months of taking onboard your feedback and long office hours behind the scenes. All of the changes are aimed at improving your Living DNA experience, whether that means speeding up the load time of our pages or making the way that you navigate your way around simpler. We hope you like our new home as much as we do!

What's Next

Thousands more will be given access to the Family Networks beta so keep watching your matches. If you’ve opted into Family Networks, you’re likely to see your match list before the end of the month. To help test and expand your network, you now have the ability to invite friends and family to upload to Living DNA for free and see how they match.

Your relationships will continue to become more accurate and specific as we refine our systems. We appreciate all of the feedback we’ve received so far and are pleased to hear so many success stories.

We heard our fans and agree - messaging other members is super important. This has always been part of the plan after beta, but thanks to your feedback, we’re working on getting this to the top of the list. Look forward to being able to contact your matches in the coming month.

Black Friday Weekend

Our 3-in-1 ancestry DNA kits will be available to purchase at our best ever price this weekend in our Black Friday weekend sale. Not only will we have a great discount on our best-selling kit, you can get an even greater discount if you choose to purchase more than one.