What Strava’s Purchase of ‘The Breakaway’ App Means for Its Users
Strava appears to be making strides toward becoming more than just a social fitness tracker. The popular fitness app — arguably the best of its kind — announced Thursday that it has acquired The Breakaway , an AI-powered cycling app, marking its second major acquisition in just a month.
This comes after Strava acquired Runna in April. So what do these acquisitions mean for The Breakaway and Strava users? Will the apps’ specific training plans be available as part of a Strava subscription? Will I have to pay for it, whether I like it or not? Here’s what you need to know.
What Breakaway Brings to Strava
Breakaway uses AI to create customized training plans for cyclists with specific performance goals. The app analyzes individual fitness data and goals to create workouts tailored to each user’s needs and schedule.
Similarly, Runna offers training plans created by artificial intelligence, but focuses on runners rather than cyclists. As people on Reddit speculate , these apps could represent a strategic push by Strava toward more personalized training and coaching features.
More broadly, Strava has built its reputation on social fitness tracking. As a dedicated Strava user, I believe no other running app can beat Strava’s social and mapping features. This ability to connect with a community of other runners and cyclists has always set Strava apart from tracking-only apps.
Strava’s core offering has remained relatively (and refreshingly) basic compared to dedicated workout apps. However, these acquisitions certainly suggest that the company wants to capture a larger part of the fitness ecosystem by offering the structured, targeted workouts that serious athletes need.
What does this mean for pricing?
Current subscribers don’t have to worry about immediate price increases. Breakaway costs $9.99/month or $69.99/year. (I’m guessing runners are willing to shell out more, since Runna costs $19.99/month or $119.99/year.) Strava’s free tier lets you post your runs, connect with other users, and track some basic stats about your performance. The premium tier, at $11.99/month or $79.99/year, gives you additional tools for tracking and mapping your performance.
And according to Strava , there are no plans to change pricing structures or remove free access to basic features of purchased apps. Whether this pricing structure will be maintained in the long term remains to be seen, especially as Strava integrates these services into its broader platform.
Conclusion
Instead of requiring users to have separate apps for social tracking and structured workouts, Strava appears to be building a comprehensive fitness ecosystem. Even for the most casual users, that could mean access to more workout tools without leaving the Strava ecosystem. But as some disgruntled fans say , it might be a shame to see Strava hijack its AI-powered workout features instead of fixing some of its most basic problems. (Seriously: I should be able to accurately search for past runs.)
And we can only hope that the prices don’t get too crazy. We’ll see if users are willing to pay more for what has traditionally been a social fitness app.
Finally, as Strava continues to expand its feature set, it’s worth remembering that the app is set to share publicly by default. Check your privacy settings regularly to make sure you’re not inadvertently sharing location data or personal information more widely than intended.