Ancestry Reference App Review (iOS, Free)

Description

Discover your ancestry anytime, anywhere. Learn where you came from, who you came from, and why it matters. Not sure where to start? No problem. Tell us what you know and we’ll start the search for you. The Ancestry app puts your family history at your fingertips.

• Build your family tree and uncover long-kept secrets.
• Get hints and discover new family connections, facts, and photos.
• Share your discoveries with friends and family.

Winner of the 2013 Appy Awards!

Features:
• Redesigned look for sleeker, more intuitive use
• Build your tree faster by connecting to Facebook
• Learn about historical events that happened during the lives of your ancestors
• Preserve memories by adding photos to your tree
• Explore high-res images of historical documents and records
• Access the world’s largest online family resource with over 11 billion historical records
• Ancestry Hints help you discover new family connections by finding historical records and photos for you

Start your journey by choosing a subscription:
U.S. Discovery Membership: $19.99 per month
World Explorer Membership: $34.99 per month

Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase.
Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew function is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period.
No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the subscription period.

View our Terms and Conditions at http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/Mobile-termsandconditions
View our privacy policy at http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/Mobile-PrivacyStatement

Customer Reviews

• Very helpful

  by Rebecca Miller

  I can work on my genealogy any where I go. When I am not working on my desk top I can work on my iPad. I started in 1982 with my genealogy and I have found more information On ancestry.com.

• Easy geneology at a click

  by Jo248

  Use census records, birth and death records and connect with others trees - your family tree at your fingertips. It's amazing what you can find.

• Great App!

  by JohnnyH104

  I love how easy it is to use.

• Convenient App

  by Grumpy3468guy

  It does not nave the functionality of the website, but works a whole lot better than the 2014 Software that is sold. At least I can use the app to make updates.

• Great site an app

  by Elder mom

  I had seen the commercials and wondered but within a day of my trial I am so impressed and excited!! Found civil war records the first day! And now the app lets me add info no matter where I am.

• Incredible app

  by Buddy Parker

  Now that I am retired, I am spending more time exploring genealogy, something I've always wanted to do. This app is fantastic! I can do research with the app (or sync with Ancestry online) and see the results right on my iPhone, whether at home or in a cemetery in another State. I can discuss what I've discovered with my relatives when we get together and show them pictures and diagrams on the fly. I also use the Shoebox app to take pics of old photos and zap them right into my tree! My only complaint: the connector between divorced couples should be a dotted line instead of a solid line. Otherwise, awesome! Great job! 10 stars if it would let me!

• Ancestry.com Review

  by Wyoming Bob

  Great application with excellent UI. Ramping up is very quick and the "hints" are at the core of why this program is so good! I started our family Geneology as something to do and now it is an enjoyable obsession that I will be able to pass down to our children.

• Clyde Lowell Spence

  by Podpuzzled

  Once you get started it is like playing a video game & may become addictive as you click on the green leaves. It is very interesting to see others research on our your ancesters.

• Ancestry

  by giszmoe

  Love it!

• Great App!

  by Mikee16

  I love this app-makes working on my tree so much easier!

• Wonderful Tool

  by Mad'zz

  I love doing research on my iPad. App works great. Easy to use. It's a real benefit to me to be able to work on my family history where ever I go. Ancestry.com is more powerful than ever.

• Love it

  by Tyyujhgfdreeet

  Love this app

• Fantastic

  by Tampa2.1

  This app is fantastic. Room for improvement on usability w maiden names and such but overall awesome.

• Ancestry App

  by Conservative Mom

  Great application; Very helpful for genealogists

• Wow

  by Emty13

  I just love this app! I'm a tween, so you would think that I wouldn't like this stuff. But this app is a great way to track your family. (On paper is way too hard) Only complaint is that you should be able to make more that one note/fact for each person.

• Genealogy on the go

  by JohnL1981

  It doesn't offer as much as the full fledged website (namely, access to public trees is completely absent), BUT it does offer the essentials like viewing your tree, editing, adding pictures, etc. Overall, it's a convenient app for on-the-go genealogy.

• App good.

  by Disnydude1

  After using the website and now owning a tablet, I am liking that the 2 platforms link.

• Seamless integration with website!

  by Mr.Ski

  It keeps getting better and better. I love having my online tree with me anywhere I am.

• Best genealogy app I have used

  by farnquist

  Great tree builder.

• Great, but needs better stability

  by Estanley71

  The app crashes when viewing documents. It's a little annoying, but rest of app works great.

• Ok at first

  by yennyno

  When i first dowloaded this, It was ok and all then after a while when I try to update facts it keeps saying "Ancestry is currently unavailable" so i wait till it updated but when it did the problem is still there plz fix it

• Fix subscription renewal please!

  by TechyMom379

  Every time I try to renew my subscription through this app, the $ gets deducted from my apple account but I do not get Ancestry membership! This has happened 3 times in the last 5 months. Apple directs me to Ancestry. Ancestry directs me to Apple. Please- just fix this.

• Facebook tie in problems

  by GigglingKat

  I tapped the wrong thing and my cousin is now his own father and his fiancé is now my wife. This is apparently permenant. Joy.

• Excellent app!

  by Als109

  I use it all the time. It is user friendly, intuitive, and the graphics are nice to navigate the tree.

• If you nag to get a review you deserve one star

  by a little ticked off

  Great app, but nagging for reviews is unacceptable.

• Getting better and better

  by CraigerC

  Thanks for a great mobile app! I would like to make a suggestion. I would like to see the age of the person in years, months, days or years, days when you pull up their details. (The latest update keeps crashing on my iPad.). I'm going to delete and reinstall it. Even after today's update to the update, it still crashes, but also, it's now the only app I've ever seen cause my iPad to reboot itself! Keep working on it!

• Pretty good!

  by smm078

  Love it

• Better All The Times

  by Tomcat4114

  Enjoyable and amazing! Awesome program!

• Good but....

  by Makster736748

  App quits when reviewing a hint that has a photo. PLEASE FIX!

• Ancestry.com -- A good app that still needs some work

  by KDReynoir

  Ever since my niece got me hooked on researching our family history, I've been using this app as a handy way of keeping track of things and updating our family tree as new info becomes available. The app probably would get 4 to 4-/12 stars for that. Where it falls down, apart from its garish color scheme and crass commercialism, which I suppose is to be expected, is on some fairly simple to correct for anachronisms which are built into its handling of locations for ancestors' life events. For example, where our ancestors came to these shores before 1776, events really shouldn't shown as having occurred someplace in the USA -- since the USA didn't exist at the time. Likewise, an event that happened in 16th-century England really shouldn't give the United Kingdom as part of the location. If the software can show that the bicycle was invented at some time during my ancestor's life, it should be able to get the name of his or her country of origin properly formatted as well! Another peeve is that the app has difficulty with the use of the term "circa" even though that, along with the abbreviation "ca." or "c." is commonly used in genealogical research. Using "about" is probably OK, but "circa" is better. Finally (for now, at least) for those few of us who may have been able to trace some of our ancestors WAY back, to the first century AD or even earlier -- it does happen, you know -- the app really needs to be able to recognize and account for the years before 50 CE and all the years BCE. (I'd also like to be able to insert world history timeline events -- or to delete the app's selection of events, but that's of kind of "pie in the sky" for now.)

• Getting better and better

  by CraigerC

  Thanks for a great mobile app! I would like to make a suggestion. I would like to see the age of the person in years, months, days or years, days when you pull up their details. (The latest update keeps crashing on my iPad.). I'm going to delete and reinstall it.

• Incredible app

  by Buddy Parker

  Now that I am retired, I am spending more time exploring genealogy, something I've always wanted to do. This app is fantastic! I can do research with the app (or sync with Ancestry online) and see the results right on my iPhone, whether at home or in a cemetery in another State. I can discuss what I've discovered with my relatives when we get together and show them pictures and diagrams on the fly. I also use the Shoebox app to take pics of old photos and zap them right into my tree! Awesome! Great job! 10 stars if it would let me!

• Good, but..

  by Alexander Mnatsakanov

  Up till recently been fine, but now won't let me add new family members. Has been giving me an error for days.

• Love the hints!

  by Morgana Rosenberg

  A great and easy way to explore my family history. Low commitment and fun!

• Not updating IPad

  by Broshark

  My app will not update keep trying, but no luck. I do like this program, just wish I could use it.

• Simply The Best!

  by PrettyNpink77

  I have been an active member since 2005. I have seen this company grow in the right direction. As an American with a diverse background and mixed heritage, searching for my African American was challenging. Ancestry.com help me discover my history. I am proud of the information and the clarity of documentation found through this app. This app make the experience smooth. Navigate and investigate easy, right at your finger tips. Having the ability to collaborate with Facebook is a plus. Download and be satisfied.

• Incredible app

  by Buddy Parker

  Now that I am retired, I am spending more time exploring genealogy, something I've always wanted to do. This app is fantastic! I can do research with the app (or sync with Ancestry online) and see the results right on my iPhone, whether at home or in a cemetery in another State. I can discuss what I've discovered with my relatives when we get together and show them pictures and diagrams on the fly. Great job! 10 stars if it would let me!

• Addicting!

  by LJFR

  Love using this app! So easy to enter data & research on the go.

• Very Useful APP

  by johncavallone

  Excellent tool plus convenience of iPad makes for a great pair especially when you want access to discuss with relatives that love your new discoveries yet aren't documenting themselves.

• App Unavailable More Than Not

  by jmb.2

  Great mobile app if read only is the goal. Almost all attempts to create facts or make new connections fail to work with a standard prompt to contact support or try later. Images don't load properly and response time is slow too. They've a lot of work to do here to make this reach real mobile functionality!

• Amazing

  by Love it! It's so easy

  WOW!!!!! When I got my mother father and I it knew when they got married and I didn't even tell them that!!! Love this

• Excellent resource

  by Rieban

  Sometimes it helps to have my subscription on my phone.

• Ancestry.com app :)

  by Rtcowgirl

  Love this app. I'd write more but I'm busy building my tree!

• Good App

  by ccm55

  This is a good app - does have a few glitches, but overall I'm satisfied.

• Excellent!!!!

  by Tinytower3590

  I have discovered so many outstanding things about my family history! Fabulous! Bravo!

• Great App

  by beijj0327

  Great app

• Awful

  by Germajesty

  Cannot edit entries to update info. Changes info on its own. I entered people as deceased but it lists them as "living relatives." Cannot add aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. All you may add are parents, siblings, and children. Just terrible. Very let down.

• Pretty good, but buggy

  by phoenixrising93

  I joined Ancestry.com several years ago and did some research. I must say that the access to documents is much improved. I like that I can open and review documents that have been scanned. On the web interface, I was able to see other users family trees which intersect my own. So far I haven't seen that with the iOS version. The iOS version has crashed several times leaving me to wonder how stable it is. So far the crashes haven't lostsignificant portions of the work I was doing. . So 3 of 5 stars for now.

• Expensive Disappointment

  by Major Upset

  Constant error messages. The app is very difficult to navigate. Not pleased.

• Great

  by Bbateman82

  Great

• Family tree

  by Glenn Brentner

  Yes I like this app and s ancestor.com helps me find online for great-grandfather I thought I won't stuff yes I like this

• 90% love the app

  by Jaazzienyer

  Overall i love the app....but....It may be me but I can't see how to perform certain actions in the app and I have to go to the website to perform them.

• It's pretty good

  by Zoki3

  I like it except for it is hard to fix errors or to change the person if it comes up the wrong match. I think it could use some work. I would hate it if I didn't have it on my PC.

• Great app-still some bugs

  by Peggee

  Love this app and use it everyday. An awesome resource. There are still a couple of bugs with both the iPhone and iPad app that I hope are resolved sometime soon. On the iPad the app will simply close altogether while trying to save a hint. Happens frequently. On the iPhone the screen will freeze in the split screen mode as if I had a person open but will be a blank screen on the right side. Sometimes closing the app completely or rebooting the device will help but not always. In spite of these little annoyances I am hooked and still love the app.

• Vast improvement over prior version but still glitcy

  by danafranklin

  This is a fun app to play with. I can look through my ancestral line with ease. You know can get and add the hints directly to your ancestry listing. It's still a bit glitchy though. I still tend to get error messages when saving and even when logging in Otherwise its a very fun app to look through what you already have available to you on your online account.

• Almost Great

  by Shaz111

  I could use this all day. However, a few irks: It's not easy to merge duplicates. Fix this please! Get rid of the stupid historical fluff added to the timeline. It's annoying!

• Awesome!!!

  by Jvanwick

  Have been able to find so much information!!!

• Need to be able to exit tree

  by Tecwritr

  It works but need to be able to exit from the tree so it can be opened on my PC.

• Excellent APP

  by Sis49trauma

  I use this app when I travel to confirm and add to it. I love the merge with the online tree. The App is getting better all the time. I really like the fact that if you have a duplicate you can merge them together. Keep on updating the history of the States.

• Genealogy on the go

  by Mark Bridgman

  This app has been one of the best tools in years. I have been tracing my genealogy for over 15 years and it's great having my notes with me when I am in a cemetery in the middle of no where. The folks at Ancestry stay on top of the app with updates and improvements. I use this app more than any other.

• Ancestry App I love it!

  by Dan D Harrison

  I love to work on my Ancestry families everywhere I travel on my ipad! Some troubles with duplicating many people and how to fix it!

• Good, but needs a critical customer perspective.

  by SteveCB1

  HINTS are confusing. They show YOUR TREE and RECORD, and have ONE check box not clearly associated with either choice. And often both are correct; one is maiden name and one is married name.

• Great app

  by Maggiecme

  I love ancestry.com and this app makes updating my trees so easy. There are a few quirky things that are less intuitive but hopefully will work out soon. Specifically when accepting a hint you are quite likely to add new people accidentally since that is the default. You actually need to click on the name it wants to add then go down to a red bar that says not a new person, pick the person already in your tree And then back out. It's not really clear if it saves to both or not. Could be easier. That said though I'm not doing the bulk of my work on my mobile devices. This app is perfect for updating facts at family gatherings or cemeteries on the go. Love it.

• Better than beta, still a ways to go

  by Anony186

  Much improved since first test version. However, a few tweaks here and there would be great.

• This is great!

  by Fisherwm2

  This is fun to learn about family. I've found several family members that I knew nothing about.

• Crasher

  by JanieHonse

  App crashes with the new update. Can't even open app.

• Such a satisfying hobby!

  by Cams ma

  I love ancestry and history and finding out what my family and ancestors went through to make this country what it is today. It's amazing. Be careful not to attach just any information.

• Constantly crashes

  by nbcgal

  Would be nice if this app didn't crash consistently. Would like option to print media from inside the app too.

• Family History

  by Confirmed User

  This is out outstanding app for keeping family information in an easy to reference format.

• Easy and intuitive

  by Nitot

  Quite powerful and fun to use. I wish I could delete people.

• Great complement to the website

  by CreepsFan

  Nice to have an app for mobile, but it constantly freezes on both an iPad and a Kindle, rendering it useless, and is missing a lot of the functionality of the website. I don't understand how a fantastic site like Ancestry can get mobile so wrong. Baffling.

• Well done & easy to use!

  by Zerohero56

  This app is extremely handy for my research into my family tree. It is easy to use and I can do most things that I can do on on the regular web site.

• Have been a member for at least 14 fantastic years

  by I steel eagle I

  Ancestry continues to grant me copius information on my ancestors. More than a few famous ancestors have been discovered and added to my trees. The biggest surprise was through the DNA testing I had performed which revealed my birth Father of which my twin Sister and I had never been told. My twin died before this revelation came out. My Mother never confided in us but was always concerned as to why I wanted to know about my ancestors. She always said they were dead and would never help us. Wished she was still living so I could let her know she was related to several US Presidents, General R E Lee and Daniel Boone. Would have loved to hear what she thought then. Thank you Ancestry for all you have provided to people like me that yearn for this information. It is who we are and what were made of.

• Good Luck

  by VT.jd

  Good luck canceling subscription. After a phone call...no luck. And, the info they provide on their site is 100% incorrect.

• Great app

  by James Abbott

  This app is really well integrated with the web site and desktop. I am addicted

• Excited...then not so much

  by Jewelz10188

  Crashes on start. Won't let me even start the app. Goes back to home screen. Please fix, I'd like to get started.

• Ancestry

  by Chance's mom

  I love this program. I just wish that it was easier to use the people. Every time I go to a person that I have double of and delete it takes me back to the beginning instead of staying where I was, but I do love it. I am adopted and it has allowed me to do a tree for my real mother side and my adopted side of the family's. This is what I want to leave to my son and grandson so they will know their heritage. Thanks, Jean Brockman

• New changes make this completely useless and inreadable

  by Sherri Sturm

  The new format is awful! It rendered my information useless as it made it smaller and prohibits resizing and I can no longer read anything I did with the exception of the persons name. Found my photos used on the internet by others. Privacy? Failure to fully disclose usage

• Unicode issue

  by Tongphe

  Please support unicode data. Thanks!

• Pretty awesome

  by Stonerage

  Loved it. Just a few little bugs but besides that it's awesome

• Not bad

  by hockeylvr2

  So far so good. Really like being able to have this on a mobile device to view an add findings.

• Acceptable

  by ajps1020

  Good for quick updates. Still have trouble synching to FTM. And still receive too many messages that website is down.

• App needs lots of work

  by Efletche

  iPad app constantly freezes. There is also issues logging into and jetting kicked off Ancestry repeatedly. Gets very frustrating, especially when you find someone new and the app locks up and you have to turn entire iPad off and restart to access site again. Wind up documenting on paper more often than using iPad app. Do some serious upgrades and I'll try it. For now, it's more of a waste of time.

• Excellent product!

  by Richbald

  I enjoy this app!

• Good app but limited compared to site

  by LGSA-lab

  This is a good app for reviewing hints if you have a lot related to people in your tree but it's not good for searching through records on their own.

• Awesome Tools

  by DCroswhite

  I have found so many records and connected with other families with same relatives who have had awesome pictures.

• Enjoy learning about the past

  by Utah Jeter girl

  This is a great app. The new changes are wonderful.

• Good program

  by The original Hop

  I like the interface. Fairly intuitive. Not on Facebook, so that feature doesn't interest me. Would like to see hints include possible connections to other family histories.

• This is a great app, can't view some matches

  by EglWngz

  I love having this app on my phone. It makes it quick and easy to look something up on the fly. My problem stems from looking up matches in the DNA portion. When I searched for a specific surname within my matches, I would get a sublist showing those who have members in their tree with the same surname. When I try to look at more information on a specific person, it cuts off the view and I can't see all the info. I try to scroll within the cut-off box and it scrolls the whole screen. I think the functionality needs tweaking. Otherwise, it's a great app!

• Ancestry

  by Mariehud

  I like it very much but wish it would help me out with ancestors in Europe I paid for six months and maybe I just haven't learned all the ins and outs yet. I don't need the Facebook thing I am hoping more things fall into place for me and I will review again.

• Crashes

  by Labinsk

  As soon as you open it it crashes, please fix before I'll update rating.

• Not much information available

  by Joyhl

  The app is okay but it charged me for downloading records and did not tell me that there was a charge for the record the monthly rate but not to load a census or birth or death record I did not like that at all

• Ancestry.com

  by Mcevpa

  Great

• Good start but needs work.

  by Jennie Sadosky

  Every new person is living if you create them w this app

• Awesome! Addicting!!

  by Miss Facebook

  LOVE IT

• Great!

  by Texas Toothpick

  This app is a much better place to spend your time over Facebook and video games. Use of a PC or laptop is still better, but this is a great app to check hints when your family tree starts getting large. It is also a great way to carry info like birthdays, death dates and maiden names.

• Facebook? Really?

  by Glam1234

  I love the app. From release to now it had become much more functional. To be quite honest the Facebook integration was a mistake. Why expend resources to ad information from LIVING people when it's the past and those that are no longer with us that presents the greatest challenge?

• Amazing

  by Ballen76

  Something to help be productive in many boring meetings

• Incredible

  by Charlie Richardson

  Probably the best interface and most usable software of any kind. The depth and helpfulness of this app is pretty mind-boggling

• No Facebook, Please

  by Harboots

  I have so much trouble with this app. Every improvement makes it worse. This newest offer to connect research to facebook is objectionable. Cross references on social media is unnecessary and potentially dangerous. I have used ancestry.com for decades and long for the simpler formats that do not duplicate and restrict searches outside of our own families.

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