Comparing the 2026 DNA update with prior years

My AncestryDNA 2026 update.

Ancestry's 2026 DNA release is out, and while we're still waiting on Regions by Grandparent, it's time to dive into the comparison with prior years. Last year I had 11 regions, so this year's 22 regions is pretty cool. It is helpful to see how much as improved when I look back at the 2023 and 2022 updates, the new regions might be more actionable now, especially when paired with Shared Matches of Matches and seeing the regions of known cousins.

This year Ancestry is launching SideView 2.0 with the Regions by Grandparent feature. The original SideView appeared in the 2022 update.

I am disappointed some long standing trace percentages have dropped off (Nigeria, North Africa for me, our Indigenous Andes for Bolivia & Peru, Indigenous Mexico - Yucatan). In their place, the strengthened Sephardic Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean is represented equally across the kits for my Mom and her sisters. It is nice to see Spain is back in my results again (12%, plus an additional 3% Northern Spain). Madeira and Northwestern Italy have dropped away. Switzerland is new at 6%, and that makes sense as my 4th-great-grandmother Ursula Fellme was fully Swiss, and our Lamon branch descending from Rudolph Lehman was Swiss.

Indigenous Americas - Mexico is now Sonoran Desert & Gulf Coast (Mexico & USA) at 5%. While the name is new, the percentage is about the same as prior years. I had expected to see more sub-regions in Mexico across the kits I manage. Fortunately shared matches of matches allows me to see the sub-regions of known cousins. For example, my cousin Catherine has Gulf of California (Mexico), which is not surprising, and I am hoping these appear in the Regions by Grandparent feature launching soon. 

First glance, a little disappointing

AncestryDNA. Journeys, Sonora & Southern Arizona.

At first glance, I'm a bit disappointed with the 2026 AncestryDNA update. For months this has been hyped as a big improvement for those with ancestry from Mexico and the Americas. Above is a screenshot from my Mom's Journeys for Sonora and Southern Arizona, unchanged since 2025. Knowing what I know about the Mexican branches of the tree, and our extended Chilean branches from my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez, I was really expecting an explosion of new sub-regions for Mexico and the Americas. So far, there's only one, and it looks like the image below. :(

Ancestry. 2026 DNA Update for Sonoran Desert & Gulf Coast.

Yeah. This is something...perhaps there are more updates coming. Or the still pending Regions by Grandparent will give more insight. For someone with a long and deep detailed Mexican heritage with records, I expected a bit more. And so far, Chile and Indigenous Americas - Andes has dropped away for our 2026 update, which is really disappointing.

There are some positives...but only because I have Shared Matches of Matches with ProTools and can see known cousins I've already documented how they connect with our lines. I can see their updated DNA regions, and can see some patterns not obvious if I was only looking at my results. So my usual snap DNA analysis of the DNA changes is taking a bit longer. There's a lot more data to consider for the kits I manage, and a lot of nuance in the differences. Some new regions for 2026 directly relate to my current research questions. The Canary Islands were already on my travel bucket list and now more so. 

I will have a few more posts on the 2026 update before travel demands take over and I'll be catching up later in the month.

Coming soon: Ancestry regions by grandparent

AncestryDNA. 2026 update.

Ancestry is in the process of rolling out the 2026 DNA update. I'll have a separate in-depth post looking at the changes across the kits I manage. In the meantime, a new feature I'm still waiting to receive is regions by grandparent. When I click on the image above, I see my updated 2026 regions divided by parents, with a green box for "Coming Soon: Regions by Grandparent".

I was really hyped for the potential of the 2026 regions update. Looking at the data, I have mixed feelings. I've lost some small percentages for regions that I've had for a while. Some old areas that had disappeared for me are now back, and a few new regional surprises. I now have the benefit of comparing the changes across a bigger set and with shared matches, and some of the lost regions still appear in these cousins. 

Anticipation

Ancestry's 2026 DNA update drops tomorrow. I'm very curious to see what changes, how the update differs from previous versions, and compares with similar results on 23&Me. 

A few areas I'll be looking closely into:

• SideView 2.0
• Journeys by grandparent
• Improved regions for Mexico and the Americas 

RootsTech 2027 session summaries

Summary descriptions of 276 class sessions for RootsTech 2027 are available on the RootsTech website. The page says the list changes frequently and attendees may be able to plan schedules for sessions to watch in January 2027.

From the initial descriptions, there are many that jump out, so I'll need to prioritize those I can see live vs watch later.