Why We Said 'No DNA, Ever': Building a Family Tree You Can Trust

When we started building Heritorie, one decision came before almost everything else: we would never ask for, collect or analyze DNA. Not as an option, not as an upsell, not later. Here is why.

A family tree is a family's story

The most valuable parts of a family history are things no lab can tell you: who raised whom, the nickname everyone used, the town Grandpa left and why, the recipe, the song, the person who was "like an aunt" without being one. Families are made of births, yes, but also marriages, adoptions, fostering, step-parents and people who simply showed up.

Heritorie is built around what your family knows and chooses to share. A tree built that way reflects how your family actually lived.

What "no DNA" means for your privacy

Genetic information is unusual: it describes you, but also your parents, siblings, children and cousins, including people who never agreed to share anything. Once it is out in the world, it cannot be changed or taken back.

By never handling DNA, Heritorie never holds that kind of information about you or your relatives. What we do hold is what your family enters, and it stays private:

• Your tree is private to the people your family invites.
• Other families cannot browse or search your tree.
• If you want to connect with relatives in another family's tree, both sides have to agree first.

How your family can add what they know

A trustworthy tree is a shared one. The people who remember are often spread across states and generations, so Heritorie makes it easy for them to contribute:

• Invite relatives to view the tree, the family history and the family book.
• Share a private page where relatives can send in names, dates, photos and stories without needing an account. A Keeper reviews each addition before it reaches the tree.
• Record how sure you are. If you only know the year someone was born, you can say so, instead of guessing a full date.

Trust comes from people, not tests

When your aunt adds the story of how your grandparents met, or your cousin uploads the only photo of a great-grandmother, the tree gets more accurate and more meaningful at the same time. That is the kind of family history we want to help you build: one you can trust, because the people who lived it helped write it.

No DNA, ever. Just your family, telling its story.