03 January 2025
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Chalking up 30 billion historic records, 8.9 million DNA kits, and an additional 458 million ancestor profiles in the MyHeritage online trees, the 20th year of genealogy tech pioneer company MyHeritage is a milestone year to salute.
Nearly half a billion ‘new’ ancestors added to MyHeritage
Family history tech innovator MyHeritage notched up an awesome set of family history milestones in 2024.
- 458 million new profiles (each one an ancestor or relative) were added to MyHeritage family trees).
- 3.8 million cherished photos have been uploaded.
- And 8.9 million kits are now in the MyHeritage DNA database.
Read on to find out more…
Esther, MyHeritage spokesperson, writes:
“We were honoured to play an important role in helping individuals make life-changing discoveries and connect with their history in meaningful ways.
“Our users inspired us daily with incredible discoveries, from emotional reunions with long-lost loved ones to uncovering rich details about their families’ pasts.
“Their stories remind us that genealogy is not just about preserving the past — it’s about creating a deeper sense of belonging in the present and leaving a meaningful legacy for the future.”
Here’s a look back at 2024 – which was a milestone year for MyHeritage in its own right, as the company celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Key MyHeritage developments in 2024
MyHeritage profile pages
At RootsTech (March 2024), MyHeritage unveiled the all-new profile pages, “transforming one of the most visited pages on MyHeritage into a centralized hub for everything known about an individual”. The new profile pages provide a complete view of a person’s life journey, integrating family tree connections, photos, historical records, and more.
The introduction of Hints makes it easier than ever to uncover new life events, relatives, or missing details — all in context, directly within the ancestor profile.
Launch of OldNews.com at MyHeritage
In March 2024 MyHeritage launched historical newspaper website OldNews.com. Within a few months of launch, a new auto-completion feature for the publication name filter helps users quickly locate relevant newspapers by suggesting titles as they type. A sorting option for search results was added, allowing users to organize findings by relevance or publication date.
MyHeritage DNA collaboration tool
Also in March, MyHeritage introduced a long-awaited feature that allows users to securely share DNA results with a trusted collaborator.
MyHeritage 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon
In April, Legacy Family Tree Webinars, owned and operated by MyHeritage, hosted its 5th Annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon.
MyHeritage Multi-Photo Scanner app
In May, MyHeritage added the Multi-Photo Scanner to the MyHeritage mobile app, to help users preserve their family memories. This AI-powered tool allows scanning multiple photos or album pages in a single tap.
MyHeritage & Family Tree tree integration
July saw MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA introduce an integration that allows FamilyTreeDNA users to transfer their family trees to MyHeritage. This collaboration enables users to access MyHeritage’s advanced genealogy tools while FamilyTreeDNA focuses on its expertise in DNA testing.
MyHeritage Relationship Diagram
MyHeritage enhanced its Relationship Diagram feature to better support very large family trees. With this update, users can now view detailed relationship paths for every person in their tree, no matter the size.
The latest MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity update
August was the month for a second round of updates to Theory of Family Relativity™ in 2024. This update expanded the total number of theories by 40%, now totalling 233.4 million theories, and increased the number of DNA kits with at least one theory by 16% to nearly 3 million. DNA Matches with theories grew by 43%, now representing over 167 million matches.
MyHeritage LiveMemory
In November MyHeritage introduced LiveMemory™, a groundbreaking feature on the MyHeritage mobile app that transforms still photos into short video clips, with the power of AI. LiveMemory™ animates entire scenes, creating deeply nostalgic and shareable experiences.
Read more about examples here.
Closing achievements at MyHeritage in 2024
The year at MyHeritage closed with new records and further tech innovations.
December saw the addition of 3.4 billion records extracted from historical newspapers, sourced from four massive collections spanning U.S. states such as Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and more..
MyHeritage also added custom animations to LiveMemory™ that let you control how your photos are brought to life.
You can now decide whether you want to evoke emotion with gestures such as hugging, laughing, or dancing, or add a playful twist. All LiveMemory™ videos now stored directly in the MyHeritage app, so you can view, download, or share them with loved ones whenever you want.
The total record count on MyHeritage at the close of 2024 stood at a truly impressive 30 billion historical records.
