How to Delete Your FamilyTreeDNA Data: Step by Step
Full deletion walkthrough for FamilyTreeDNA: download autosomal, Y-DNA and mtDNA results first, delete the account, and request sample destruction separately.
FamilyTreeDNA tests are unusual in the consumer market because the company offers dedicated Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA testing in addition to autosomal Family Finder. That means a single account can hold three distinct result types, and a deletion you want to be complete needs to account for all of them. We walk through the order and what each step does.
Step 0: Download every result type you might want to keep
Before deletion, save what you might want later. FamilyTreeDNA lets you download three separate result files depending on which tests you took.
The autosomal Family Finder raw data is exported from the Family Finder section of your dashboard. The Y-DNA results, including any Big Y data, are exported from the Y-DNA section. The mitochondrial DNA results are exported from the mtDNA section. Each one is a separate download. If you have all three, save all three.
The autosomal raw file is the one you can upload elsewhere, for example to MyHeritage or GEDmatch. The Y-DNA and mtDNA files are largely specific to FamilyTreeDNA’s ecosystem and a few specialist tools, but they are still worth keeping because the underlying tests are expensive to repeat.
Step 1: Delete the account through Account Settings
Log in, choose your name in the top right, and open Account Information. Inside, find the Privacy and Sharing section. The deletion option is labelled Account Deletion or similar wording.
FamilyTreeDNA will warn you that deletion removes your matches, your project memberships, and your data from the matching database. Confirm.
The interface may require an email confirmation step. Watch for it and complete it. An unconfirmed deletion request is not a deletion.
Step 2: Submit a separate sample-destruction request
FamilyTreeDNA stores biological samples at its Houston facility for later upgrade testing. That is one of its distinctive features as a service, because it means you can order, for example, a Big Y test years after the original Family Finder kit without sending a new sample. The downside is that account deletion does not by itself trigger sample destruction.
Contact FamilyTreeDNA support through the Help Center link above and request sample destruction explicitly. A short message referencing your kit number is enough. Save a copy of the message and the response.
What deletion covers and what it does not
Account deletion removes your match list, your kit’s presence in other users’ match results, and the personal data the company holds in the account. Y-DNA and mtDNA data are part of this and are removed when the account is closed.
What deletion does not cover is membership records in genetic genealogy projects, where copies of your test results may have been exported by project administrators into their own files. Those are personal copies held by individual researchers, not company data. If a specific project copy concerns you, contacting the project administrator directly is the only practical path.
Law-enforcement matching at FamilyTreeDNA is governed by separate opt-in settings under the Law Enforcement Matching toggle. Account deletion ends future participation, but past matches that already happened are not undone by deletion.
Timing and confirmation
FamilyTreeDNA’s published deletion timelines target thirty days for the digital data, consistent with US state-law timelines that have emerged since 2021. Sample destruction at the lab is typically a separate operation and can take longer. Keep your confirmation emails.
Related reading
For the equivalent steps at other services, see how to delete your AncestryDNA data, how to delete your 23andMe data, and how to delete your MyHeritage data. For background on downloading first, see how to download your raw DNA data. For the broader pillar, see genetic data privacy.