MyHeritage Update June 2024

[jadegreg]

So far, of all the companies I have either tested at or uploaded my results to, this newest MyHeritage update is the most accurate ancestry prediction I have gotten so far.

English 59%
Germanic 20%
Scottish and Welsh 15%
French 6%

Out of interest, what did you get before.......and how does this result compare to your paper trail?

[geebee-1015]

For me, this is MyHeritage's worst update.  So far it has only been applied to my one of my four tests.  This is the MyHeritage; the other three are uploads of a 23andMe test, an AncestryDNA test, and an FTDNA test.

Unfortunately, it looks like the other three sets of results will eventually be updated, as well.

One problem with the update:  MyHeritage now labels me as 100% European; I am not.  I have Indigenous American ancestry through both of my maternal grandparents.  In both cases, the most recent such ancestor is known.  Also, 23andMe, FTDNA, Ancestry -- and until recently, MyHeritage (and still, for the other three tests) -- all report similar amounts.

Another problem:  MyHeritage has also now dropped my Spanish ancestry.  Both of my maternal grandmother's grandfathers were Menorcan immigrants.  So I ought to have somewhere is the neighborhood of 12.5% of this ancestry.  Most likely, in the update this is subsumed by my "French" ancestry -- something MyHeritage is reporting for the first time.  I have a little bit of French ancestry, as in no more than about 2%.

So, here's what my update shows:

• English 51.9% ... MyHeritage connects this to Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.  Before the update, MyHeritage reported 51.6% Irish, Scottish, & Welsh.  I do have some British ancestry, although much of it is Scottish and Northern Irish.  The total is also at least 10% less than MyHeritage's figure -- at least in terms of my paper trail
  
• French 24.1% ... no community associated.  Previously, MyHeritage reported 6.5% Iberian and 1.9% Greek & South Italian.
  
• Germanic 17.0% ... no community associated.  Previously, MyHeritage reported 36.6% North & West European.  I actually do have some German ancestry, but MyHeritage's percentage is too low.  German and British are neck-and-neck for largest ancestral component, although that "British" includes a significant amount of Northern Irish and Scottish.
  
• Dutch 7.0%.  I have no known Dutch ancestry.
  

The other ancestries show prior to the update are:  1.1% Native American and 1.2% Mesoamerican & Andean; also 1.1% Central Asian.  I do not have any Central Asian ancestry, as far as I know; but for what it's worth, Ancestry had previously assigned 1% Northern India.  My most recent update from Ancestry (July 2023) has instead 1% Eastern European Roma.  Based on Chromosome Painter, I've been able to determine that this is likely from DNA inherited from one my my two Menorcan-born 2nd great grandfathers.

EDIT:  I might also note that one of my assigned "Genetic Groups" is Creoles of Color in Louisiana.  So far I haven't been assigned any African ancestry by any company, but Indigenous American ancestry is also common in this community.  I suspect one problem in MyHeritage's new update is oversmoothing.

[Riverman]

EDIT:  I might also note that one of my assigned "Genetic Groups" is Creoles of Color in Louisiana.  So far I haven't been assigned any African ancestry by any company, but Indigenous American ancestry is also common in this community.  I suspect one problem in MyHeritage's new update is oversmoothing.

Yes, it is. For 4/4 ancestry people and those with simple admixtures, for which MyHeritage has a good reference and algorithm, it works way better than the old version. For more complex mixes it regularly fails and minor admixtures might be just swallowed or transformed. However, the latter was the case in the old version as well, and it was mere chance whether it worked out or not before already. But it looks like the cases of such errors rather increased significantly n numbers, rather than decreased with the update.

[Nqp15hhu]

What is even happening at this point?

[muttgenes]

EDIT:  I might also note that one of my assigned "Genetic Groups" is Creoles of Color in Louisiana.  So far I haven't been assigned any African ancestry by any company, but Indigenous American ancestry is also common in this community.  I suspect one problem in MyHeritage's new update is oversmoothing.

Yes, it is. For 4/4 ancestry people and those with simple admixtures, for which MyHeritage has a good reference and algorithm, it works way better than the old version. For more complex mixes it regularly fails and minor admixtures might be just swallowed or transformed. However, the latter was the case in the old version as well, and it was mere chance whether it worked out or not before already. But it looks like the cases of such errors rather increased significantly n numbers, rather than decreased with the update.

I haven't paid to see my results since updating but I know my results, previously, were pretty off. I had large amounts of Italian and Finnish and no SSA even though I have a strong paper trail for my African ancestry and the Southern Italian my father gets has yet to be supported by a paper trail (2% Sardinian/Sicilian depending on the company).

[Traveler]

What is even happening at this point?

Who knows? The update process has completely stalled. One can only speculate as to why.

[Nqp15hhu]

Just would prefer better communication. Companies should not respond to complaints online, it is hardly fair to we do not get the update because of a select few complaining.

[Traveler]

Just would prefer better communication. Companies should not respond to complaints online, it is hardly fair to we do not get the update because of a select few complaining.

I agree they should communicate better and know how to manage expectations.

I'm not sure the delay is entirely due to customer complaints, though. Could be technical difficulties. I did wonder if maybe it was part of their strategy to update only a percentage of kits, and then recalibrate after getting customer feedback from the form they circulated, but if so that seems like a silly way to go about things. In all the years they've had to develop this update, surely they could have tried their method out on smaller batches of customers and gathered feedback from focus groups.

[geebee-1015]

EDIT:  I might also note that one of my assigned "Genetic Groups" is Creoles of Color in Louisiana.  So far I haven't been assigned any African ancestry by any company, but Indigenous American ancestry is also common in this community.  I suspect one problem in MyHeritage's new update is oversmoothing.

Yes, it is. For 4/4 ancestry people and those with simple admixtures, for which MyHeritage has a good reference and algorithm, it works way better than the old version. For more complex mixes it regularly fails and minor admixtures might be just swallowed or transformed. However, the latter was the case in the old version as well, and it was mere chance whether it worked out or not before already. But it looks like the cases of such errors rather increased significantly n numbers, rather than decreased with the update.

I'm sure you're right. 
 
As I noted in the previous post, I actually have four sets of results.  These are based on three uploaded files (from Ancestry, FTDNA, and 23andMe); and a MyHeritage test.  So far the only one of these already updated is based on the MH test; the other three all say that the "New improved Ethnicity Estimate" is "coming soon".

In contrast to the update, this is how the other three sets of results look:

Ancestry

• Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ... 56.9%
  
• North and West European ... 29.9%
  
• Italian ... 4.5%
  
• Iberian ... 4.2%
  
• Finnish ... 1%
  
• Mesoamerican and Andean ... 1.7%
  
• Native American ... 0.8%
  
• West Asian ... 0.9%
  

My "Genetic Groups" (at medium confidence) are:

• Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee
  
• Creoles of Color in Louisiana
  
• Mississippi
  
• Pennsylvania and Ohio
  
• Northeastern and Midwestern USA
  
• Mississippi and Louisiana
  

FTDNA

• Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ... 55.3%
  
• North and West European ... 30.9%
  
• Iberian ... 4.9%
  
• Italian ... 4.4%
  
• Finnish ... 1.0%
  
• Mesoamerican and Andean ... 1.7%
  
• Native American ... 0.9%
  
• West Asian ... 0.9%
  

My "Genetic Groups" are:

• Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee
  
• Creoles of Color in Louisiana
  
• Pennsylvania and Ohio
  
• Northeastern and Midwestern USA
  
• Mississippi and Louisiana
  
• Mississippi
  

23andMe

• Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ... 54.6%
  
• North and West European ... 32.8%
  
• Iberian ... 5.5%
  
• Italian ... 3.8%
  
• Mesoamerican and Andean ... 1.3%
  
• Native American ... 0.9%
  

My "Genetic Groups" are:

• Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee
  
• Mississippi and Louisiana
  
• Creoles of Color in Louisiana
  
• Pennsylvania and Ohio
  
• Northeastern and Midwestern USA
  

These are all fairly similar, both as to the "ethnicities" chosen and the "Genetic Groups".  I suspect the same thing will be true also after they're updated -- so all four analyses will be worse than they are now.

[JFWinstone]

Still no update for any of mine

[Traveler]

What the heck? I haven't received the updates for the kits I've been waiting for, but apparently they're now changing some of the results from the first batch of updates. My mom's changed ever so slightly (a few decimal points less Ashkenazi and a few more Syrian Jewish - maybe a tiny step in the right direction), but my dad's changed considerably and is now: 38.3% Dutch, 29.4% English, 16.9% Danish, 6.3% Scottish and Welsh (he didn't get any at all in the last iteration), 4.3% French, 3.4% Germanic and 1.4% Breton. Still in the ballpark for my dad, but I think it was better on the first try.

Again, so very silly that they're trying to work out their kinks in public view, but at least it's a sign that they're working on something.

[Rober_tce]

What the heck? I haven't received the updates for the kits I've been waiting for, but apparently they're now changing some of the results from the first batch of updates. My mom's changed ever so slightly (a few decimal points less Ashkenazi and a few more Syrian Jewish - maybe a tiny step in the right direction), but my dad's changed considerably and is now: 38.3% Dutch, 29.4% English, 16.9% Danish, 6.3% Scottish and Welsh (he didn't get any at all in the last iteration), 4.3% French, 3.4% Germanic and 1.4% Breton. Still in the ballpark for my dad, but I think it was better on the first try.

Again, so very silly that they're trying to work out their kinks in public view, but at least it's a sign that they're working on something.

Now my results are better, the three kits are very similar. I’m happy that MH is working in improvements. I would say the “extrem smoothing” is less.

[Tomesq]

They've changed my results again, this time for the worse. I doubt they'll be able to keep everyone happy by constantly tinkering with the algorithm.

[Mulay 'Abdullah]

Are those who have yet another update after receiving the first official one, are only people who responded to MH's feedback request? I don't have any changes after the update.

[Nqp15hhu]

What the heck? I haven't received the updates for the kits I've been waiting for, but apparently they're now changing some of the results from the first batch of updates. My mom's changed ever so slightly (a few decimal points less Ashkenazi and a few more Syrian Jewish - maybe a tiny step in the right direction), but my dad's changed considerably and is now: 38.3% Dutch, 29.4% English, 16.9% Danish, 6.3% Scottish and Welsh (he didn't get any at all in the last iteration), 4.3% French, 3.4% Germanic and 1.4% Breton. Still in the ballpark for my dad, but I think it was better on the first try.

Again, so very silly that they're trying to work out their kinks in public view, but at least it's a sign that they're working on something.

It would’ve been fairer to roll out the update to everyone, then do that.

None of my families kits have updated after all this time, still.