23andMe Is Shutting Down: What Every Indian User Must Do Right Now

In March 2025, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a US federal court. The company that pioneered consumer genetics testing. once valued at over $6 billion. had been haemorrhaging money for years, and its collapse was finally made official. Now, under court-supervised restructuring, its most valuable asset is potentially up for sale: the DNA data of 15 million customers across the world.

For Indian users and NRIs who took a 23andMe test. perhaps through an international order, a forwarding service, or a gift from a relative abroad. this news raises real and urgent questions. Who will own your DNA data when the dust settles? What rights do you have? And what happens if you do nothing? This guide walks you through exactly what has happened, what your options are, and the steps you need to take right now to protect yourself and your genetic information.

The situation is evolving, but the window to act before a sale closes is finite. The good news: you can take control in a matter of minutes.

What Happened to 23andMe

23andMe's collapse was not sudden. The company went public via a SPAC merger in 2021, briefly trading at around $320 per share on an adjusted basis, but the business fundamentals were always fragile. Revenue from one-time kit sales was difficult to sustain, and the company's ambitious pivot into drug development never generated meaningful returns. By late 2024, shares had fallen to under $1. The board's repeated attempts to find a strategic buyer came to nothing, and co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. who had personally resisted sale processes she did not control. ultimately stepped down during proceedings.

In March 2025, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is a court-supervised process designed to allow companies to restructure or sell assets in an orderly way. The problem for customers is obvious: 23andMe's primary asset is not its technology platform or its name. it is the DNA data of its customers. The genetic profiles of 15 million people represent a uniquely valuable and uniquely sensitive database, one that pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and health insurers would potentially pay hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire.

The bankruptcy court has ordered 23andMe to notify customers of their rights with respect to their data. US bankruptcy law does include some consumer privacy protections, but these are not absolute. Under 23andMe's own privacy policy, which was in place before the bankruptcy. customer data can be transferred to a new owner in an acquisition. That means unless you act, your genetic information could end up in the hands of a company you never heard of, operating under policies you never agreed to.

There is also the broader question of what happens to genetic data once it leaves its original context. Unlike a password, a credit card number, or even a photograph, your DNA cannot be changed. If your genetic data is acquired by a buyer who uses it irresponsibly, mishandles it in a breach, or sells it to third parties, the consequences are permanent. This isn't hypothetical: 23andMe itself suffered a data breach in 2023 that exposed the ancestry data of nearly 7 million users. That breach happened while the company was solvent and fully operational. The risks under bankruptcy conditions are no smaller.

What Are Your Rights?

Whether you tested with 23andMe from India, the UK, the UAE, or anywhere else in the world, you have meaningful rights over your data, and those rights can be exercised right now.

You have the right to download your raw data. At any time, regardless of the bankruptcy proceedings, you can log into your 23andMe account and download a copy of your raw genotype file. This is your DNA data in full. 600,000+ SNP positions, and it belongs to you. Downloading it does not delete it from 23andMe's servers, but it ensures you have a personal copy that cannot be taken away.

You have the right to request account deletion. 23andMe allows you to permanently delete your account and request destruction of your stored DNA sample and genotype data. Once this request is processed. typically within 30 days. your data should be removed from their active systems. 23andMe has stated they will comply with deletion requests before any asset sale closes. Crucially, you must download your raw data before deleting your account, as deletion is irreversible.

You cannot prevent a court-ordered asset transfer through inaction. If you do nothing, a court may approve the sale of 23andMe's assets, including your data. to a buyer. At that point, your options become significantly more limited. The time to act is before that sale is approved.

For users based in India, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 provides rights of data portability and erasure. though enforcing these against a US-based company in bankruptcy is complex. NRIs and users in the UK and EU have stronger legal footing under GDPR, which guarantees portability and the right to be forgotten. In any jurisdiction, the most practical protection is to download your data and request deletion now, rather than relying on legal mechanisms after the fact.

How to Download Your 23andMe Raw Data. Step by Step

The process is straightforward and takes about five minutes. Here is exactly what to do:

1. Log in to your account at 23andme.com using your registered email and password. If you have forgotten your password, use the account recovery option.
2. Click on your name or profile icon in the top-right corner of the page to open your account menu.
3. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. Scroll down the Settings page until you reach the section labelled "23andMe Data".
5. Click "View" next to the option labelled "Download your data."
6. On the download page, you will see several data categories. Check the box for "All available data". make sure "Raw Genotype Data" is included in your selection.
7. Click "Request Download." 23andMe will begin preparing your file.
8. Check your registered email inbox. Within a few hours, you will receive an email from 23andMe with a secure download link.
9. Click the link in the email. You will be asked to re-enter your password to confirm your identity.
10. Download the ZIP file to your device. Save a backup copy in at least two places. for example, your local hard drive and a cloud storage service such as Google Drive or iCloud.

Inside the ZIP, you will find a text file. typically named something like genome_[YourName]_Full_[date].txt. This is your raw genotype file. It contains approximately 600,000 lines, each representing one SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) position in your genome. Each line lists the rsID (a standardised identifier for the SNP), the chromosome it sits on, its genomic position, and your two alleles at that position. one inherited from each parent.

The file is not human-readable in any meaningful way on its own. it is a machine-formatted data table. But it is extraordinarily valuable: it contains the genetic raw material that any analysis pipeline can use to compute ancestry estimates, haplogroups, health risk scores, carrier status, and pharmacogenomic traits. This single file, downloaded in minutes, can power years of analysis.

Store it carefully. Treat it like you would store a scan of your passport or a backup of your bank documents. Do not share it casually.

How to Request Account Deletion

Once you have safely downloaded and backed up your raw data file, you can choose to permanently delete your 23andMe account. This will remove your genotype data and, if you previously consented to biobanking, request destruction of your stored saliva sample.

To delete your account: log into 23andme.com and go to Settings. Navigate to the Security tab. Scroll to the bottom of the page, where you will find the option to "Delete Account." You will be prompted to confirm your decision and may be asked to re-enter your password. After you submit the deletion request, 23andMe will process it within approximately 30 days.

This action is permanent and irreversible. Once your account is deleted, your genotype data will be removed from 23andMe's active servers, and you will lose access to all reports, family matching, and account history. You will not be able to recover the data through 23andMe again, which is exactly why downloading your raw file first is essential. Your local copy of the raw data file is all you will need going forward.

If you are uncertain about deletion, at minimum download your raw data now. You can decide about deletion later. But do not let uncertainty about deletion prevent you from downloading your file today.

Why Your 23andMe Indian Results Were Disappointing Anyway

Here is the part that most Indian users already know, even if they have not articulated it clearly: the results you received from 23andMe were probably not very useful.

23andMe was built for a Western market. Its reference panel. the database of genetically characterised individuals used to compute ancestry estimates. is overwhelmingly European. Fewer than 2% of 23andMe's reference samples are South Asian. By comparison, European populations account for over 60%. What this means in practice is that the algorithm simply does not have enough resolution to distinguish between the extraordinary genetic diversity of the Indian subcontinent.

The result, for most Indian users, is a report that says something like "98% South Asian" or "Broadly South Asian". and nothing more. No distinction between a Punjabi and a Tamil. No way to tell a Bengali from a Marathi. No signal that differentiates a Rajput from a Nair from a Brahmin from a tribal community. For a country with over 4,600 documented jati communities, each with their own genetic signatures shaped by thousands of years of endogamy, this is an almost complete failure of resolution.

Beyond ancestry percentages, 23andMe also lacks the frameworks that are most scientifically meaningful for South Asian populations. The ANI/ASI model. which describes Indian ancestry in terms of the Ancestral North Indian and Ancestral South Indian components that are now well-established in academic population genetics. does not appear anywhere in 23andMe's reports. The deep Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroup subclade tracing that would allow you to understand your paternal and maternal lineages in a South Asian context is similarly absent.

This is not a minor gap. The ANI/ASI framework, first described in landmark studies by Reich et al. in 2009 and refined extensively since, is the foundation for understanding Indian genetic history. the migrations, the mixing events, the population structure that explains why a Kashmiri Pandit, a Nair from Kerala, and a Santali from Jharkhand have radically different genetic profiles despite all being "South Asian." 23andMe's report cannot tell you any of this.

The structural reason is simple: no global company has invested in building South Asian reference data at the depth that India's genetic diversity demands. The only way to get meaningful results for Indian ancestry is to use a platform that was built specifically for that purpose.

What to Do With Your Raw Data. Upgrade to Helixline

Your 23andMe raw data file. the .txt file inside the ZIP you downloaded. is not locked to 23andMe. It is a standard genotype file, and it can be used with any compatible analysis platform. Helixline's Indian ancestry pipeline accepts 23andMe v3, v4, and v5 raw data files, which covers the vast majority of kits ever sold by the company.

Uploading your 23andMe data to Helixline takes minutes, costs ₹2,500 for the ancestry plan, and delivers results within 3 to 5 business days. Here is how:

1. Go to helixline.in/upload and create your Helixline account.
2. Upload your 23andMe raw data .txt file (approximately 25 MB).
3. Select your analysis plan and complete payment (₹2,500 for ancestry).
4. Receive your detailed Indian ancestry report within 3 to 5 business days.

What you get from Helixline that 23andMe could never show you:

• 75+ regional Indian ancestry breakdowns. state-level and sub-regional resolution across the entire subcontinent, from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala, from Gujarat to Assam.
• 4,500+ community cluster matching. your DNA is compared against thousands of Indian community reference populations, identifying which groups you match most closely at a jati and sub-community level.
• ANI/ASI/AASI component analysis. the real story of your Indian ancestry, told through the academically validated framework of Ancestral North Indian, Ancestral South Indian, and Ancient Ancestral South Indian components.
• Deep Y-DNA haplogroup tracing to South Asian subclades. for male users, your paternal lineage traced far beyond the top-level haplogroup to the specific South Asian subclade, with migration context and time estimates.
• Deep mtDNA haplogroup tracing. your maternal lineage traced with the same depth, through South Asian-specific subclades of haplogroups like M, R, and U.
• Carrier screening and pharmacogenomics. available with the ₹5,000 plan, adding clinically relevant reports on genetic carrier status and drug metabolism traits.

The difference between what 23andMe showed you and what Helixline can show you is not marginal. it is the difference between knowing you are "South Asian" and knowing that you are, for example, primarily of eastern UP Brahmin ancestry with a significant component of ancient Dravidian ancestry, a Y-DNA haplogroup L-M20 lineage that traces to early South Asian agriculturalists, and an mtDNA haplogroup M5a lineage associated with specific communities in the Deccan. That is a genetic story worth knowing.

What If You Never Took a 23andMe Test?

If you are reading this guide and you never tested with 23andMe. perhaps because they did not ship to India or the price was too high. then the bankruptcy is not your concern. You have no data at risk. But you may still be wondering how to get a DNA ancestry test that actually works for Indians.

Helixline ships kits directly across India, with no international ordering required. There is no need for a forwarding service, no customs duty surprises, and no waiting weeks for a kit to arrive from the United States. You order online, the kit arrives at your door, you collect a simple cheek swab at home, and you send it back with the pre-paid return envelope.

Helixline's current kit range:

• Origins (₹6,999): Full Indian ancestry analysis. 75+ regional breakdowns, community matching, ANI/ASI components, and deep Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroup tracing. This is the starting point for anyone who wants to understand their Indian heritage in depth.
• Decode (₹12,999): Everything in Origins, plus health reports, genetic carrier screening, and pharmacogenomics. your body's likely response to common medications based on your DNA. The most comprehensive consumer genomics product available in India.

Either kit will give you results that are more detailed and more meaningful for your Indian ancestry than anything 23andMe could produce, ordered and delivered entirely within India.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will 23andMe delete my DNA data if the company shuts down?

Not automatically. 23andMe has stated that in the event of a sale, customer data could transfer to a new owner. However, you can proactively request account deletion at any time, which permanently removes your data from 23andMe's servers. Download your raw data file before deleting your account. once deleted, the data cannot be recovered from 23andMe. Your locally saved copy will still be available to you.

How do I download my 23andMe raw data file?

Log into 23andme.com, go to Settings, find the "23andMe Data" section, and click "View" next to "Download your data." Select "All available data" including raw genotype data, click "Request Download," and check your email for the download link within a few hours. Save the resulting ZIP file, and the .txt file inside it. in multiple secure locations.

Can I use my 23andMe raw data on another platform?

Yes. Your 23andMe raw data file (.txt format, downloaded as a ZIP) is compatible with several third-party analysis services. Helixline accepts 23andMe v3, v4, and v5 raw files and provides detailed Indian ancestry analysis. 75+ regional breakdowns, community matching, and haplogroup analysis. starting at ₹2,500. The upload process takes only a few minutes.

Is my 23andMe data safe if the company goes through bankruptcy?

Under US law, customer data is considered an asset and can potentially be transferred to a buyer during bankruptcy proceedings. 23andMe's own privacy policy has always allowed for data transfer in an acquisition. The safest course is to download your raw data now and then request account deletion before any sale closes. Waiting exposes you to the risk that a new owner inherits your data under terms you never consented to.

Why should Indian users care about 23andMe's bankruptcy specifically?

Indian users and NRIs who tested with 23andMe never received detailed Indian ancestry results. 23andMe's reference panels simply are not built for South Asian populations. The bankruptcy is both a risk to manage and an opportunity: retrieve your genetic data now, before it changes hands, and upload it to an India-specific service like Helixline to finally get the state-level and community-level Indian ancestry detail that 23andMe could never provide.