Strava API Changes Could Kill a Lot of Great Learning Apps
Strava announced this week that it will restrict API access for some third-party apps in the future. While they are careful to state that the change “won’t have any impact on most developers,” many runners and cyclists are finding that the change will likely kill features and possibly entire apps. .
Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect.
What is Strava again?
Strava is an app used by runners and cyclists to track training data, compete with other runners or cyclists on leaderboards, and draw maps based on where they and other Strava users like to run and bike. I called it the best running app , but also reported privacy concerns inherent to its mapping tools .
Apart from these built-in features, Strava is also widely used to connect other apps. All of your fitness trackers (and their associated apps) will likely be able to sync with Strava, and many coaching and analysis apps can take turns pulling data from Strava.
What is Strava changing in its new data policy?
According to an announcement on the Strava website, third-party apps that use Strava data can now only display the user’s own data, not anyone else’s. This means your Oura app can get the time and distance of your last run from the Oura Ring , but apps that combine data from multiple users (to create their own heat maps , for example, or allow coaches to check their athletes’ progress) will no longer be allowed.
Strava says: “In particular, we want to be sensitive to situations where users connect to a third-party app and are unaware that their data is being exposed not only for their own use and visibility, but also for other users (for example, in a public feed or thermal map)”.
The changes to the API terms also prohibit third-party developers from training AI on Strava data and seek to “protect the unique look and feel of Strava,” which appears to mean they’re pulling certain features from their API so that third-party apps can’t boast of having everything Same features as the Strava app.
Which applications will be affected?
There are tons of apps pulling Strava data and their developers are just learning about the API changes, so I can’t give a full list of affected apps just yet. Strava predicts that “less than 0.1% of apps” will be affected, but if any of them are among the most popular fitness tracking apps, many users will be affected.
So here’s a little about what we know: Coaching apps will be impacted because these apps extract data from one user (the athlete) to serve another user (the coach). The developer of intervals.icu , a popular analysis and training app, is urging athletes and coaches to change their app settings so that their data is sent directly to intervals.icu rather than through Strava.
However, this is a workaround that is not available to everyone. The reason Strava has been so popular as a training and analysis app is because there are so many gadgets and devices that record training data, from smartwatches to bike power meters. It’s not practical for small app developers to write code for every device a user might use, but it’s easy for them to pull data from Strava.
So if you use Garmin devices and your favorite app can connect to Garmin, great. But if not, you may no longer be able to use these apps. (For example, developer intervals.icu is hard at work getting the Zwift integration up and running.)
Changes may also block any analysis by third-party applications. According to DC Rainmaker’s reading of the new API terms , even simple calculations like “how many miles did I run this week?” may conflict with the modified API agreement.
What can you do about it
Right now, if you use any apps that pull data from Strava, go to the relevant website (or check your email) and see if their developers have said anything about how they will handle the situation. given the Strava changes. You may be able to link your data directly, like in the Garmin and Zwift examples above, but this will depend on your specific devices, what apps you use, and what data you expect to see there. This is exactly the complexity that using Strava as a data bridge was designed to solve! Unfortunately, those days are obviously over.
I find it ironic that Strava is positioning this change as important to user privacy. While Strava’s privacy controls are quite complex and people can definitely share more information than they think, this is also true for Strava itself , and the company hasn’t done much to fix the problem.
As I’ve written before, Strava’s anonymized data is still specific enough to diagnose some people based on their running habits . When I asked the company to comment on this issue, they responded: “Public heat maps (weekly or nightly) use only aggregated, anonymized data—no personal information. Strava has a number of privacy settings that allow users to create their experiences on our platform, including the ability to opt out of participating in the global heat map. We are committed to developing this experience with a strong focus on privacy.”
But when your running route itself identifies you, removing identifiers from your running (or cycling) data doesn’t always truly anonymize it. And since only Premium users have access to Strava’s most accurate mapping tools, free users can’t necessarily see how their data is being used. It seems that Strava only recognizes these privacy issues when they arise on third-party websites and does not address the same issue when it occurs internally. (If any of this bothers you, you may want to check your privacy settings .)