Strava Sues Garmin Over Segments and Heatmap Features
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Two of the biggest players in the fitness tracking market are at loggerheads: the fitness app Strava has filed a lawsuit against Garmin, demanding the device maker cease selling all of its fitness watches and cycling computers. The lawsuit alleges patent infringement on two key features—segments and heatmaps—and claims that Garmin violated a ten-year collaboration agreement between the two companies.
However, according to Matt Salazar, Strava’s chief product officer , the lawsuit is a response to a much more pressing threat: Garmin’s plan to cut off API access unless Strava places the Garmin logo on virtually every part of its platform.
What is Strava’s lawsuit all about?
At first glance, Strava’s lawsuit relies on two main patent claims. The first concerns heatmaps and popularity routing, protected by patents filed in December 2014 and issued in 2016. These patents describe technology for creating maps showing users’ training locations based on aggregated GPS data from multiple users. The first claim is fairly straightforward, but before delving into it, it’s important to know that the second patent focuses on another key feature: segments. This patent, filed in March 2011 and issued in August 2015, covers the concept of user-defined route segments, where athletes can compete for the best time using GPS data.
As a quick aside, it’s worth noting that Strava and Garmin have had a long-standing relationship for over a decade. As noted fitness blogger DC Rainmaker explains , Garmin introduced its own segments feature back in June 2014, and in July 2015, it entered into a partnership with Strava to implement “Strava Live Segments” on Garmin devices. Strava now claims that Garmin has violated this agreement by continuing to develop and implement its own Garmin-branded segments alongside Strava’s features. Notably, this alleged infringement has been ongoing for nearly 10 years.
To be clear, the lawsuit was filed immediately after recent disagreements between the companies. In 2024, Strava implemented controversial API changes that broke many third-party fitness apps. Around the same time, Garmin began requiring API partners to attribute data obtained from Garmin Connect—though Strava reportedly resisted this policy.
Furthermore, in May 2025, Garmin launched the Trails+ feature as part of its paid Garmin Connect+ subscription, which Strava may view as an infringement on its subscription-based revenue model. According to DC Rainmaker’s sources, Strava formally notified Garmin of the patent issues in late June 2025 and filed a response in July. So, how did we arrive at today’s lawsuit?
What was the reason for the lawsuit?
In a Reddit post addressed to the Strava community this afternoon, Salazar reported that Garmin announced new developer guidelines on July 1st requiring its logo to appear “on every activity post, screen, graphic, image, post card, etc. ” for all API partners, including Strava. The deadline for compliance is November 1st. Consequences of failure: Garmin will disable API access, preventing all Garmin data from being uploaded to Strava.
“We consider this blatant advertising,” Salazar wrote. “These new rules seriously degrade the user experience on Strava (and for over 150 million athletes). We already provide data to every data partner, but Garmin wants to use Strava and all other partners as an advertising platform—they told us they care more about marketing than user experience.”
Salazar emphasized that Strava views this as a fundamental issue of user data ownership: “If you’ve recorded an activity on your watch, we consider it your data. We believe you should be able to freely share or download that data without requiring logos to be displayed next to it or using that data in advertising to sell more watches.”
According to Salazar, Strava spent five months negotiating with Garmin, proposing alternative, less intrusive attribution methods, but Garmin refused to compromise. Unable to justify the need to comply with what they considered mandatory advertising requirements, Strava filed a lawsuit.
What does this mean for you?
Good news for athletes: your devices and data will be fine, at least for now. When asked about the impact on users, Strava responded: “Our lawsuit is a lawsuit between two companies; we do not intend to take any action that would prevent Garmin users from syncing their data with Strava.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit is likely to take months or years. Strava faces an uphill battle. Perhaps the most pressing issue for Strava’s case is timing, particularly with regard to heatmaps. According to research by DC Rainmaker, Garmin actually implemented heatmaps in Garmin Connect in early 2013—more than a year and a half before Strava filed its patent in December 2014. Many other platforms, including third-party developers using Strava’s API data, also developed heatmap functionality during this period.
“The fact that they were granted a patent for this demonstrates how convoluted the software patent system has been over the years,” notes D.K. Rainmaker . He predicts that Garmin’s lawyers “will easily prove this patent should never have been granted and get it invalidated,” drawing parallels with a similar case in which Wahoo sued Zwift and quickly dropped the suit after a judge questioned the validity of their patents.
Bottom line
Many athletes now feel like children of divorce. Here’s how parents see it:
Garmin’s position , outlined in its July 2025 API brand guidelines , is that data attribution is standard industry practice, similar to requirements of Google Maps and other platforms. The guidelines give developers until the end of 2025 to comply, with Garmin noting flexibility regarding the deadline. From Garmin’s perspective, the company is simply demanding the same attribution processing that Strava requires of its API partners.
Strava’s position , voiced by Salazar this afternoon, is that Garmin’s demands go far beyond reasonable attribution and constitute forced advertising that degrades the user experience. Strava notes that Garmin doesn’t provide attribution for third-party devices, such as heart rate monitors or power meters, in its Garmin Connect app, indicating a double standard.
For now, users of both platforms can continue to use their devices and sync data as usual. However, the lawsuit highlights growing tensions in the fitness technology ecosystem, as companies increasingly compete not only for users but also for control of all the data and features athletes have come to rely on.