This Mac app is the best way to visualize your family tree

There are loads of popular and well-established family tree apps—ancestry.com is one of my favorites. Many of the best DNA testing services, like 23andMe, also now have a robust family tree-building element. This means there’s a lot of choice out there if you’re interested in building a family tree and learning more about your past.

But if you’re a Mac user seeking an alternative, I highly recommend MacFamilyTree 10 as its compatibility with Mac devices ensures a seamless user experience. It might not be as popular as ancestry.com, but MacFamilyTree 10 has been around for more than 20 years and is a go-to genealogy tool for anyone passionate about learning more about their family and tracking their roots.

Beautiful visuals and machine-learning tools

With MacFamilyTree 10, you’ll get everything you’d expect from a family tree app, like tree building, suggestions, access to a huge database of entries via FamilySearch, and document and photo storage. However, there are some other features and tools that make MacFamilyTree 10 unique.

Firstly, it serves up innovative and beautiful visualisations of your family tree that you can then view as an interactive 3D model rather than a boring 2D “tree” that you’ll find from similar apps. So, if you have an eye for design or are a visual learner, the layout of MacFamilyTree 10 will be really appealing.

This applies not just to the family tree you create but also to the way the app works. It’s designed specifically for Mac with a clear and easy-to-use interface—it’s as if Apple made a family tree builder, essentially. It’s worth mentioning here that you can get MacFamilyTree 10 on your iPhone and iPad, but you’ll need to buy it separately. Still, it’s good to have that option, especially if you’re out researching on the move. 

MacFamilyTree 10 also has an interactive Virtual Globe feature, allowing you to pinpoint cities and towns where your relatives have lived or moved over the years. Person View also lets you focus on a specific person so you can examine their important documents, job histories, awards, and more carefully.

Another feature called Narrative takes all of your dates and information and then “writes” a story about your family or specific members over the years. Finally, built-in machine learning tools allow you to scan, enhance and colorize photos and documents, even really old ones. 

At $34.99/£34.99 MacFamilyTree 10 isn’t cheap, but that’s a one-off payment compared to the monthly subscription price you’d need to pay for most rivals. That means it's exceptionally good value if you’re sure you’ll use it often. 

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