We all love the nostalgic look of old family photographs, but technology has moved on from the days of printed black and white photos. It’s great to have old photos, but wouldn’t it be better to see them in color?

Ancestry has made it possible. You can now colorize old photos online for free. What a great way to explore your family roots.

Ancestry Has Launched a New Colorization Tool

Ancestry is one of the best places for tracing your family tree. In June 2022, Ancestry announced adding a colorizing tool to its photo gallery. You can find or scan old black and white photos from your family’s past and colorize them to bring them to life.

This automated tool is in beta mode, so it may change, but the results are fast and impressive. It only takes a few clicks until you can see your great-great-grandparents in color for the first time.

How to Colorize Old Photos Using Ancestry

You can access this feature from Ancestry’s website or its app—which you can download on Android or iOS. You need an account to use the colorizing tool; a free account works, so there’s no need to upgrade.

Colorize Via Ancestry’s Website

Ancestry website showing black and white photo of a couple walking.

From your web account, the colorize tool can be used on your own scanned or uploaded photos, or photos from someone’s photo gallery you’re connected with through the family tree.

Ancestry website showing colorised photo of a couple walking.

Find the image you want to use in a photo gallery and open it. Under Tools, choose Edit Photo > Colorize. After waiting a few seconds, your newly colorized photo will appear.

Saving the colorized image won’t override the original photo, nor will it affect someone else’s gallery if you used their photo instead of your own.

Colorize Via the Ancestry App

From the app's Tree page, tap the photo icon and select Add media. Scan, take, or upload a photo, and open it. Choose Colorize, and wait for the results.

You can add the photo to your account with accompanying information, or you can save it to your device to quickly share with your family.

Ancestry isn’t the only way to colorize old photos, you can also recolor photos with other AI tools.

Experience the Past in Full Color

With Ancestry’s colorization tool, you can surprise living relatives with old photos by presenting a colorized version. It can also be a great way to spark memories of the past or give life to those who may be long gone.

There’s an unexplained joy in seeing black and white photos come to life in full color, and now you can experience it with Ancestry.