I wonder what is going on at Strava. It feels like peak Strava was some time around 2018. Since then, it seems like features have only been getting disabled, hidden behind opt in flags, or moved to the paid plans. I completely understand the decision to move things to paid since their service does cost a lot to run and the subscription isn't expensive, but where are all the new and cool features that should have come out over the last few years?<p>And I wonder if the article is correct in that they are pivoting away from segments. That seems strange since segments seem like the most compelling feature.
All of the (Garmin, Strava, Apple, and Google [who is trying really hard but failing]) want a monopoly on your health data. Garmin is the only one I actually trust currently, as they've shown 0 willingness to monetize your health information.<p>The Strava/Garmin relationship is an interesting one: Strava has the social network, Garmin has the best devices [for serious Athletes, not casual users]. Garmin Connect is pretty cool in it's own right, but the Social features never really took off, which is where Strava plays and has a de-fact monopoly. Strava can't survive without Garmin, and Garmin benefits from Strava's content.<p>Garmin has pulled some 'power moves' in the past though with people it doesn't like... A competitor: Wahoo, who made cycling GPS computers, was cut off from inserting data into Garmin Connect and it left a lot of users out in the cold. Most serious cyclists will use Garmin devices, not an Apple watch, to track their rides as it seamlessly integrates with ANT+ sensors: power, cadence, wheel speed, heart rate, chainring and cog positions sensors.<p>Interesting to see Strava cut off Apple... I'm guessing it has to do something with preventing them from developing an alternative to the Strava social network.
Note: this restriction is limited to THIRD PARTY data, so:<p>Strava -> Apple Health, still works<p>Garmin/Fitbod/3rd party app -> Strava -> Apple Health, no longer syncs.<p>IMHO this is better for me because now I don’t have duplicates in Apple Health and can sync to both services. But to each they’re own I guess.
The weird thing is that they claim it's to avoid duplicate activities, but they totally know how to recognize duplicates already. Every so often, there's some sort of glitch in one of my activities getting from Garmin to Strava. If I'm feeling impatient, I download the .fit file from Garmin and upload it to Strava myself, and <i>I never get a duplicate that way</i>. Happened for the first time in a while just last week. Clearly, whenever Garmin <i>does</i> send the data, Strava is perfectly capable of recognizing an activity it already has, and it does the right thing. I'm just not buying that excuse.<p>BTW and a bit OT, I find it very impressive that Strava can <i>retroactively</i> create a leaderboard going back years for a newly created segment, meaning that they must evaluate potentially millions of nearby activities for overlaps, often in just a few minutes. That's a hell of a query. Anybody know of more information on how they do it?
Instead of fixing shit like the issues pointed out in this post, they spent all their resources fucking up the UX in the app. The new activity save screen is complicated and is very obscure about where the various form data are going to show up in the final post. It used to be intuitive and straight forward. Feels like they were trying to be clever.
paid version just gets more and more complicated, all i want is to know how many days per week and miles per week i ran with my times trending up or down, but all the easy to use screens have been removed and replaced by designer mush. it’s like KPIs have gone wrong and they think the rage navigating is engagement. app was fine in like 2017. and then when they make me swipe through some product tour of overcomplicated BS or hunt for the concealed “close ad” button on some stupid year end recap when all i want to do is start my run. i think they have too many PMs competing on vanity metrics to justify their existence
I kept messing with my settings yesterday to figure out why my Strava data wasn't exporting to Apple health. Now I know why, I must've spent an hour trying to get it to work.
I'd never use Strava as my aggregator. I pipe all my Activity into Apple Health and then push the ones I want to be on Strava from there.<p>It seems that Strava agrees with me - which is a bit odd.
Garmin Connect is so much better than Strava it's not even close. The only reason I could possibly imagine preferring Strava is if I desperately need my social circle to be aware of my every workout. For those of us who do this for ourselves and not the approval of our peers Strava is miles behind.