How to Opt Out of Ancestry

Ancestry.com is the world's largest genealogy platform, with over 30 million users and billions of historical records. While it is a powerful tool for tracing family history, Ancestry also holds an extraordinary amount of personal data — your name, birth date, family relationships, home addresses, and potentially your DNA. Whether you signed up yourself, were added to someone else's family tree, or submitted a DNA test, this guide explains every step you can take to remove your information and protect your privacy.

What Information Does Ancestry Collect?

Ancestry gathers and stores a wide range of personal data, much of it deeply sensitive:

• Account information — your name, email address, username, date of birth, and payment details
• Family tree data — names, birth and death dates, marriage records, locations, photos, and stories for you and potentially hundreds of relatives
• DNA data — your raw genetic data, ethnicity estimates, DNA matches, and genetic traits
• Physical DNA sample — the saliva sample you mailed in, which Ancestry stores in a laboratory unless you specifically request its destruction
• Historical records — census records, immigration documents, military service records, and other public records linked to your profile
• Usage data — your search history, tree-building activity, and interactions on the platform

The combination of genetic data and detailed family relationship information makes Ancestry's dataset uniquely sensitive. A breach or misuse of this data could reveal health predispositions, biological relationships (including ones that were never meant to be public), and your precise ethnic heritage.

Step 1: Download Your Data Before Deleting

Before you delete anything, you should download any data you want to keep. Once your account is deleted, this process is irreversible — all family trees, records, photos, and DNA results will be permanently gone.

• Download your family tree: Go to your tree, click the "Tree Settings" gear icon, and select "Export Tree" to download a GEDCOM file. This is a standard genealogy format that can be imported into other platforms.
• Download your raw DNA data: Go to your DNA settings page and look for the option to download your raw DNA data. Important: you cannot upload downloaded DNA data back into a new Ancestry account — you would need to purchase and complete a new DNA kit.
• Save photos and stories: Manually download any photos, documents, or stories you have uploaded to your tree, as these will not be included in the GEDCOM export.

Step 2: Delete Your AncestryDNA Results

If you have taken an AncestryDNA test and want to remove your genetic data specifically, you can delete your DNA results without deleting your entire account:

1. Sign in to your Ancestry account and navigate to DNA Settings.
2. Scroll down to "Delete DNA Test Results and Revoke Consent to Processing."
3. Click "Delete" and follow the confirmation prompts.

This removes your ethnicity estimates, DNA matches, and genetic data from the platform. However, deleting DNA results alone does not automatically destroy your physical saliva sample.

Request Physical Sample Destruction

Ancestry stores your physical DNA sample in a laboratory unless you take explicit action. To ensure your biological sample is destroyed:

• Contact Ancestry Member Services directly and request the destruction of your physical DNA sample.
• Alternatively, deleting your entire Ancestry account (Step 3 below) will trigger the destruction of your physical sample.

You should receive a confirmation email once your sample has been destroyed.

Step 3: Delete Your Entire Ancestry Account

To remove all of your data from Ancestry — including family trees, DNA results, photos, and your physical DNA sample — follow these steps:

1. Cancel any active subscription.

   If you have an active Ancestry subscription, you must cancel it before deleting your account. Go to Account Settings and navigate to the Subscription section to cancel.

2. Go to the account deletion page.

   Visit ancestry.com/secure/account/delete and sign in with your username or email and password.

3. Confirm the warnings.

   Ancestry will present a series of warnings about what will be permanently deleted. You will need to check boxes confirming that:

   • All family trees will be permanently deleted
   • All DNA test results and associated physical samples will be permanently destroyed (if applicable)
4. Select a reason for leaving.

   Choose a reason from the dropdown list provided and click "Continue."

5. Verify via email.

   Check your inbox for a verification code from Ancestry. Enter the code to confirm your deletion request.

Your account and all associated data should be fully deleted within 30 days of your confirmed request.

What If You Are on Someone Else's Family Tree?

This is one of the most frustrating privacy issues on Ancestry. If another user has added you to their family tree, you cannot directly remove yourself. The tree belongs to the person who created it, and Ancestry treats the information as that user's content. Your options are limited:

• Contact the tree owner. Use Ancestry's messaging system to reach out to the person who owns the tree and politely request that they remove your information or restrict your profile's visibility.
• Request content removal from Ancestry. If the tree contains sensitive personal information about you (such as your Social Security number or private medical information), you can submit a content removal request through Ancestry's support page at support.ancestry.com.
• Exercise your data rights. Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have legal rights under the CCPA (California), GDPR (EU/UK), or other privacy laws. Contact Ancestry at ccpasupport@ancestry.com to submit a formal data subject request. Be prepared to verify your identity.

Opt Out of Data Sharing and Targeted Advertising

Even if you are not ready to delete your account, you can limit how Ancestry uses and shares your data:

• Opt out of targeted advertising: Visit Ancestry's "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" page to opt out of data sharing for online targeted advertising under applicable U.S. state privacy laws.
• Withdraw research consent: In your DNA Settings, go to "Consents" and withdraw your participation in the Ancestry Human Diversity Project and any other research programs.
• Make your tree private: In your tree settings, change your tree's visibility to "Private" or "Private and Unindexed" to prevent other users and search engines from finding it.

Timeline and What to Expect

• DNA results deletion: Processed within a few days, though it may take longer for matches to disappear from other users' accounts.
• Full account deletion: Completed within 30 days of your confirmed request.
• Physical sample destruction: Ancestry will send a confirmation email once your sample has been destroyed.
• Third-party data: Information that Ancestry has already shared with third parties (research partners, for example) may not be retrievable.

Protecting Your Broader Privacy

Removing your data from Ancestry is an important step, but genealogy sites are just one category of service that exposes your personal information. Data brokers like Intelius, Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and FamilyTreeNow also compile and sell your personal details — and each one requires a separate opt-out process.

Services like PrivacyOn can automate this process across 100+ data brokers, continuously monitoring for new listings and submitting removal requests on your behalf. While Ancestry requires manual account deletion due to the nature of DNA data, PrivacyOn handles the rest of the data broker ecosystem automatically — scanning for your information, submitting opt-out requests, and ensuring your data stays removed even when brokers attempt to re-list it.

Your genetic data and family history are among the most personal information you can share. Taking control of where that data lives — and who has access to it — is one of the most meaningful privacy decisions you can make.