These three key updates make Strava more useful than ever
Strava has introduced a slew of useful updates over the past month or so. The ones that make the most difference include direct Apple Watch integration, activity feed changes and auto-flagging for inaccuracies.
Direct Apple Watch integration
More and more of us are using an Apple Watch to track activity. With each passing year the device is getting closer to becoming a must have health and fitness companion. It’s no wonder this is currently the best selling smartwatch in the world. Changes coming to watchOS7 reportedly include sleep tracking, pulse Ox and more.
A recent software update in Strava has made it easier to upload workouts tracked on the Apple Watch. Prior to the update users had to upload activities recorded in the Workouts app on the Apple Watch through a third-party workaround. Now the two platforms can communicate directly.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
To enable this you’ll need to connect Strava and your Apple Health app. This is done by navigating to Profile/Settings/Applications, Services & Devices in Strava and linking the accounts. Once the connection is established you’ll be presented with the past month of activities. Simply choose which ones you want to port over to Strava.
From that point on you’ll be able to sync directly ensuring you are rewarded in the Strava app for all your efforts. There are two options to choose from. The “Send to Health” option automatically uploads data between your Apple device and the Strava app. Enabling “Notifications for new workouts” will ask you each time.
Activity Feed improvements
Strava is finally giving you more control over your feed. To make sure you don’t miss your buddy’s achievements, you can now favourite the athletes you follow most closely. Their activity will be shown at the top of the feed and there’s an option to get notified whenever they upload something new.
What’s more, users also now have the option to view the activity feed in chronological order. Apparently, this is one of the most requested features to date. Previously Strava would arrange the feed according to what it thinks you are most interested in. The new functionality can be enabled in the settings tab.
Auto-flagging for inaccuracies
The last change we would like to mention today is auto-flagging. There’s nothing more frustrating than inaccurate tracking of activity. Not to mention that it makes those leaderboards unfair.
To cut down on activities that are not quite right, Strava says it has improved its auto-detection algorithm. Now when it suspects something is amiss the user will get a notification letting them know their activity was auto-flagged. You really believe you ran that distance at 35km an hour? Think again. That activity will be auto-flagged.
Strava is allowing users to edit activities in order to unflag them. There’s a crop out feature in the app that allows you to edit out unintended data and make your results a bit more human.
Source: Strava
Like this article? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and never miss out!