I tried at-home DNA kit — here’s what happened

An increased curiosity around family history has led to a rise in the popularity of at-home DNA kits. The process is simple: swab your mouth or spit into a tube, send the kit back to the company, and receive the results via email in a number of weeks. I’ve lost count of how many countries my parents have said I am from, so I’ve always been curious about what the exact breakdown actually looks like, which is why I gave MyHeritage a try.

The company promises to help you learn more about your family history and (as the name suggests) heritage. One of its main features is how simple and easy it makes building a family tree. You can also upload your raw DNA data to its website to get a different perspective on your results. But if you want to take things one step further, MyHeritage offers the opportunity to discover and connect with distant relatives. But how good is the service? Keep reading for how I got on with it.

After receiving my kit in the mail, I followed the exact procedure that a normal customer would. I created an account on the MyHeritage website to register my DNA kit and then entered as much of my family’s information as I could, which includes listing full names and birthdays. There is an option on the website to be alerted of any potential DNA matches that may occur along the way, which I opted into.

I did the cheek swab before placing it inside a special solution and sealing it in the pre-labeled envelope to be analysed in the company’s lab. During the process, I considered how easy it was to take the sample and whether the instructions were simple to follow. Once I mailed it back, I assessed whether there was clear communication from MyHeritage, how long it took for the results to come back, and how well my information was presented. I also looked into the privacy settings. MyHeritage Rating: 45.

Sample method: Cheek swab. Time for results to come back: Two and a half weeks for me, but brand says can take three to four weeks. Type of DNA testing: Microarray-based autosomal. Why we love it. Swab was simpleResults were easy to understandOption to connect with distant relatives.

Lack of communication once swab submitted Collecting my DNA using MyHeritageOpening the box, I was given an activation code to create an account on the website, a cheek swab, and a biohazard bag for my used swab. The directions were straightforward to follow — all I had to do was swab the inside of my cheeks for 30 seconds before inserting the swab into a solution. I then mailed the test.

After I sent it to the lab, I received very little communication from the brand regarding where it was, how long it would take to arrive, or when I’d get my results. The only emails I had were when it eventually arrived on June 10 and when my results were in on June 27. While I would have appreciated more communication, the timing was slightly faster than the advertised four weeks. But it was still long enough that I forgot all about the test until I received the email containing the results.

Owing to having a common first and last name, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t receive the most accurate results without a phone call to my parents to learn exactly when my grandparents were born. But this, thankfully, wasn’t the case.

Once my results were in, the website ran through a series of infographics, similar to Spotify Wrapped. The data was displayed in an easy-to-digest way, highlighting every country I have ancestors in.

While I sadly wasn’t given the exciting news that I am secretly part-Neanderthal (that is, of course, no fault of MyHeritage), I did receive results that mostly checked out with what I’ve heard before. I am 51.2 percent Eastern European, 12.2 percent Germanic, 5.1 percent Norwegian, 5.1 percent English, and 26.4 percent of nine other ethnicities.

Pretty soon after getting my results, I started receiving notifications about other people who used MyHeritage that were genetically matched to be my second, third, or fourth cousins. I’m yet to reach out to any of these relatives, but I’ll update this review with my experiences if I choose to do so.

In light of recent privacy concerns over companies selling data, it’s reassuring that MyHeritage’s privacy policy states that it has never sold data and will never do so. Similarly, I liked the fact that my data could be deleted at any time.