Now with more than 125 million athletes reportedly on its platform, Strava has showcased its latest initiatives and product developments at its annual event, Camp Strava.
With a theme of ‘Progress, Together’, the company’s leadership team has announced how the platform will aim to empower its global community to make progress in the way they explore, move, and connect on Strava.
“Strava is gaining momentum to realize our vision of a world connected through movement,” said Michael Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Strava.
“We are focused on two fundamental shifts to accelerate how we deliver value to 125 million people globally – building for women and leveraging artificial intelligence – which will unlock new community-and-partner-powered experiences across the platform.”
‘New era of product velocity’
Strava has announced three of its most requested features coming to the platform by the end of the year.
The first of these updates, AI-enabled Leaderboard Integrity, will harness machine learning to automatically flag ‘irregular, improbable, or impossible activities’ recorded to the platform. Trained by millions of activities, the company notes that this feature will allow all users on Strava to play fair and have more fun.
Additionally, the company announced a new Family Plan subscription, the sister of the company’s Student Plan. With Family Plan, users can share an annual Strava subscription with up to three other people – friends, family, or anyone in their ‘fitness family’.
Launching in select countries this summer, with plans to roll out globally by the end of the year, Strava’s newest annual subscription option aims to offer the best value for groups (up to four), with a discount off the regular subscription price for each member.
Strava has also implemented an updated design system, an initiative that is seen as integral in driving a heightened pace of product innovation at the company. Through this work, Strava announced the launch of one of the company’s most requested features, Dark Mode.
Dark Mode will improve the in-app experience for all users, reducing eye strain and improving accessibility while they record activity or scroll through the feed. Athletes can expect a rollout later this summer with options to keep their mobile settings always dark, always light, or match their device settings.
Strava’s leadership highlighted several other features and updates to current products such as Flyover, with its next iteration offering an overlay with activity stats and off-platform sharing capabilities. The overlay is available today for Strava subscribers and an off-platform sharing option will be released later this year.
‘Build for her, build for many’
Strava points to studies showing that women of all ages participate in sports at a far lower rate than men, and overall, despite wanting to be active, find less time to dedicate to an active lifestyle. As the company continues on its mission to motivate people, several new features and initiatives were announced as a part of this strategic focus, which include:
- Night Heatmaps: Night Heatmaps show only activities between sundown and sunrise – so athletes can get an idea of which roads, trails, and paths are well-trafficked after hours.
- Quick Edit: For athletes having control over what is shared with the Strava community that cheers them on – like what time a run is logged – is seen as important. Quick Edit makes it easier to make the most common edits – such as activity name, and privacy settings – so they can hide start time, map, or other workout stats.
- Strive for More: The company has announced a new phase of its Strive for More initiative, created in 2022 to promote and support women in movement and sport. Strava has unveiled an official partnership with media company TOGETHXR to encourage more women to watch – and play – women’s sports. As part of the partnership, Strava will also donate US$100,000 to the Alex Morgan Foundation, started by co-founder of TOGETHXR, Alex Morgan, to support a mission to help girls and women find confident paths forward in sports and life. This summer, Strava will also team up with Bumble to help active people build in-person connections based on shared interests with the launch of a summer event series.
Athlete Intelligence
Strava meanwhile announced the start of its accelerated product roadmap, outlining how the company will implement the latest technological enhancements in AI and machine learning to transform the athlete experience.
One key advancement to the platform includes the company’s latest development, Athlete Intelligence. Strava is introducing its beta AI-powered feature which turns subscribers’ training data into an easily digestible summary that contextualizes their accomplishments and fitness goals.
Unlike other AI-powered training services, Strava points out that it connects with thousands of devices, wearables, and fitness apps; so with future updates, insights will include athletes’ entire fitness story across multiple sports and modalities.
The features shared at Camp Strava will be released on a rolling basis through the end of the year.
