Earlier this week, Ancestry.com released an update to its mobile iOS/iPadOS app, Ancestry Family History: * DNA, version 16.16.1. Similar to the FamilySearch Tree, mobile app, it helps you connect to your Ancestry.com tree (and edit and add to it), as well as do quite a bit of work with your DNA (including activate it). It’s been around for many years and is extremely popular (over 411,000 ratings).
HOWEVER! It has some unique capabilities that no other mobile apps have that I’m aware of, namely that it runs on the Apple Watch and most interesting of all, Apple Vision, which is Apple’s virtual/alternate reality goggles.
It’s a mobile version of Ancestry.com, if I had to sum it up, and it runs on these platforms:
- iPhone / iPad – iOS/iPadOS 16.0 or later
- Apple Watch – watchOS 9.0 or later
- Apple Vision – visionOS 1.0 or later
Note: Some features require a paid subscription.
Like the previous 8 releases going back to June, the version history notes simply state “Bug Fixes”. The last major update was Version 16.11 on June 13, 2024, which added a “Quiz” feature focused on guessing where your DNA comes from.
It can be downloaded through Apple’s App Store (non-US users should be redirected to the proper region/country):
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ancestry-family-history-dna/id349554263
Ancestry: Family History & DNA Version History:
- Version 16.16.1 – August 22, 2024
- Version 16.16 – August 20, 2024
- Version 16.15.1 – August 13, 2024
- Version 16.15 – July 31, 2024
- Version 16.14 – July 24, 2024
- Version 16.13 – July 15, 2024
- Version 16.12.2 – July 2, 2024
- Version 16.12.1 – June 27, 2024
- Version 16.12 – June 25, 2024
Note: I find it interesting that even when a major new feature is added, such as the Quiz features (16.11) or additions for AI to generate a narrative from record collections (16.10), that the same numbering is used for “bug fixes” (16.13, 16.14, 16.15) as well as minor versions (16.15.1, 16.16.1). In the case of this app, it is updated quite often – 4 times last month (July), 3 times this month, several times in June, etc.