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Ancestry’s ProTools – See How Much DNA Your Matches Share and Their Relationship to Each Other

Roberta Estes

Ancestry reports that a ProTools subscription is available to all US users now – and with it, access to additional DNA match information. Oh, happy day!!

ProTools is Ancestry’s new offering that provides DNA testers with:

Please note that ProTools does NOT include a chromosome browser, and the location of your matching DNA is NOT revealed. Shared matches and shared DNA does NOT equate to triangulation because the matches may be on different segments or due to different ancestors altogether.

Shared matching means that you match person 1 and person 2, and that person 1 and person 2 also match each other. It does not mean that you match on the same segment or because of the same ancestor.

Even if you don’t have or want ProTools, you need to read this article so you understand what your matches who subscribe to ProTools can now see about you and your relatives, especially your close relatives.

How Do I Find ProTools?

To determine if ProTools is available to you, click on any match in your DNA match list. You’ll see normal match information, displayed below.

At the bottom, you’ll see a banner inviting you to upgrade to ProTools.

ProTools provides multiple features for $10 per month ($120 per year), in addition to your regular or AncestryDNA Plus subscription.

ProTools includes other features as well, which I’m not reviewing today in order to focus specifically on the new enhanced Shared Matches feature.

I subscribed to ProTools and immediately had access to the new features.

Now, I see the “Pro” label beside Shared Matches.

Click on Shared Matches.

ProToolsShared Matches

By clicking on Shared Matches, I can now see how my match, ER, and I are both related to people we match in common. Said another way, if ER and I both match someone, say Susan, a grid now displays how I’m related to Susan and how ER is related to Susan according to Ancestry’s DNA prediction calculations. I also see how much DNA our shared match, Susan, shares with each of us.

Ancestry has calculated my estimated relationship to my first match, Susan, as my First-cousin-1-time-removed (1C1R) or Half-first-cousin, which is genetically equivalent, on my paternal side.

Ancestry has estimated that ER is also the 1C1R of Susan and they share 395 cM of DNA. How ER is related to Susan, and how much DNA they share, is new information that I didn’t have access to before ProTools.

Ancestry had already calculated that ER and I are Half-1st-cousins-two-times-removed.

Viewing ThruLines shows me that ER is my Half-1st-cousin-once-removed, so either the relationship estimate (based on DNA only) or ThruLines (based on trees) is inaccurate, or maybe both. However, they are both close to each other.

Using the trees of both ER and Susan, if they have trees, helps immensely in working out relationships. If Susan is ER’s first cousin once removed, that means that she shares a common grandfather with ER and with me. They are both paternal side matches and some flavor of first cousin to me, so that means our common ancestor has to be William George Estes.

Now that I can see how my matches are related to each other, I can easily work out the possibilities of how the three of us are related – even without seeing anyone’s trees or ThruLines.

Of course, in more distant generations, it’s much more difficult to sort out relationships without trees. That also means that multiple shared relationships are important, and you’re likely to find links among several testers to common ancestors.

I finally solved one pesky relationship that has been bugging me for a very long time. My match’s mother was identified as such, which led to additional and closer shared matches that helped solve the mystery.

Caution – Children’s Names and Relationships Exposed

Given Ancestry’s previous privacy policies, I was surprised to see that the names of my matches’ living children (or parents) are identified as such. Of course, I’m presuming here that “child” means 18 or older per Ancestry’s Terms and Conditions.

Here are two examples of shared matches with their relationship to my match clearly identified as their child.

This isn’t an anomaly or a bug – it’s just how the feature works.

Under the circumstances, this makes me uncomfortable given that my cousin, the parent, may NOT have ProTools and has absolutely NO IDEA that his matches with ProTools can see the name of his daughter and son and that they are identified as his children.

I’m not upset about the enhanced ProTools shared match feature itself. Conversely, I love it. I’m concerned that people without ProTools don’t realize this information is revealed, because it wasn’t previously. Before ProTools, no one would ever have a reason to suspect that anyone could identify someone on Ancestry as their child.

This seems like a significant policy shift for Ancestry, who has traditionally been extremely careful about not providing identifying information about living relatives. I’m surprised this feature was implemented without informing customers who may be affected or without perhaps obtaining opt-in for that level of exposure.

Then, it occurred to me that maybe my cousin’s children are now deceased.

I checked my cousin’s tree to see if his children’s names were revealed there, indicating they had passed away. Neither his name nor those of his children are provided in his tree, so I’m presuming they are all alive and well. That’s a relief.

Given that Ancestry has steadfastly refused to provide a chromosome browser for years due to privacy concerns, I’m actually shocked to see a child’s name and identifying relationship revealed. A chromosome browser reveals much less.

Disparity

Placing this enhanced Shared Match feature of ProTools behind a paywall, meaning not providing it to everyone who took a DNA test, creates a significant disparity between the ProTool subscribers and those without.

If you don’t subscribe to ProTools, how would you ever know that your matches with ProTools have access to this information?

People who don’t have access to ProTools shared matches, meaning those who don’t live in the US, don’t subscribe to ProTools, don’t sign in regularly, or have someone else manage their DNA kit, have absolutely no idea that all of their matches who subscribe to ProTools now have access to the names and confirmed relationships of their children and close relatives who have also taken DNA tests.

I was unable to find any way to opt out of having a parental or close relationship revealed to shared matches. Even if the relationship wasn’t noted as “son” or “daughter,” based on the amount of shared DNA, a parental relationship is obvious. This is relevant not just for your test but also for any tests you manage for others.

I hope that Ancestry informs its customers about this change. I really like the new enhanced shared match feature, and I certainly don’t want to jeopardize it. The community has waited a very long time for additional information that helps us identify common ancestors and figure out how and where our matches fit into our tree.

However, everyone who has taken a DNA test needs to be informed so that they understand the privacy changes and the additional information now provided to shared matches who subscribe to ProTools.

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