Strava closes the door on sharing fitness data with other apps

We wanted to provide additional context about the changes to the API Agreement and the impact on users and developers. We currently expect these changes to impact less than 0.1% of applications, and we proactively notified the majority of affected applications last week.

Enhanced privacy and user control

Privacy and user control are at the forefront of our platform. As a result, we are committed to evolving our API practices in response to changing regulatory requirements and user expectations. This includes decisions to limit the ability of third-party apps to see your data in ways you don’t expect. Specifically, when a user connects to a third-party app and is aware that their data is exposed not only for their own use and visibility, but also to other users (e.g., in public feeds and heatmaps). We want to carefully handle situations where we are not. ). The latest API changes address this scenario and provide a more consistent framework for Strava user data.

Training an AI model

We believe in the potential of AI to transform the athlete experience, including providing more personalized insights to help you reach your goals, generating route and training recommendations, and countless other possibilities. However, innovation in this area must be handled responsibly, with a firm focus on user control. As part of our generative AI capabilities, we are working to implement thoughtful solutions that prioritize user control and opt-out capabilities.

Third-party developers may not take such a deliberate approach to training their AI models, and as a result, the best decision for the platform and its users is based on the data extracted from Strava users in this way. It is considered to be prohibited from use. Previous terms already prohibited the use of Strava user data in model training and development, but we’ve made this more clear given the increased activity in this area.

No impact for most developers

We recognize that our platform grows through the creativity and dedication of third-party developers who build tools that complement and extend Strava’s functionality. We are resolutely committed to nurturing this ecosystem. These changes are expected to affect only a small portion (less than 0.1%) of applications on the Strava platform. The vast majority of existing use cases are still allowed, such as coaching platforms focused on providing feedback to users, and tools that provide feedback to users. Users understand their data and performance.