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Strava simplifies subscriptions, moves features like segment leaderboards behind paywall

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit
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Strava has unleashed more than 50 training updates so far in 2020, like route creation, feed sorting and mobile activity editing. Now they’ve got a few more tricks for subscribers to give them more training options for all of the 32 different activities they let you track.

For mobile users, which is a lot of us, the Summit tab will now be renamed Training, too… making it easier to get to all of this. In fact, “Summit” is going away entirely, and their subscription hierarchy is now back to just a single all-in-one bundle. We’ll explain in a second. But first, let’s check out your new training data screens…

Strava Training Modules sort out your workouts

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit

There are four key updates to the dashboard, which will show up as:

  • Activities, with a quick weekly summary that can expand into monthly totals
  • Training Log, showing activities as color-coded bubbles on a calendar
  • Intensity, based on heart rate, power meter data, or perceived exertion
  • Fitness, evaluating recent training efforts vs. recovery

The initial Training dashboard view gives a quick glance at each of the four topics, then as you click through you get more detail.

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit
Activities

Moving from the Weekly Activities preview, the next level lets you see the chart of progress comparing your Monthly Activities, to last month. Plus, it gives an overview, then sorts out each separate sport with its own graph, so you can see relative change in riding, running, or other cross training.

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit
Training Log

Training log also begins with a weekly overview, then click through to get colorful bubble graphs sorting out different sports, week-by-week for the last five weeks. Essentially, its the same full functionality you already get from the web-based training calendar.

Strava says 20% or more of their premium users (aka paid subscribers) are logging multi-sport activities, so the color coding on the Training Log calendar helps them quickly see what they did each day.

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit
Intensity

For Intensity, again starts off with a weekly set of stats (not so helpful for me on a Monday). But move through to more detail for the full week-by-week training overview, tracking relative efforts over the past 10 weeks, and the suggested effort range for this week to effectively train. As before, this is all based on your training load and activity intensities, trying to make for an easy way to visualize your efforts over time.

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit
Fitness

Lastly, Monthly Fitness tracks your progress over time comparing training effort and their intensity to your recovery periods. Essentially this is a pared down version of the web-based Fitness & Freshness display, focusing on your fitness. Click through and see where you stand over the month, quarter, half year, year, or even the last 2 years. You can click anywhere on the graphs to navigate to any individual activity, with activities highlighted as a Race indicated by a black dot that lets you see how you race fitness progressed over time.

Strava Route Builder gets updated for desktop

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit

The Route Builder for mobile has, according to them, been so popular it’s helped them add more paid users. And it was arguably better than the web-based version you’d use on a desktop browser. So they’ve made that one better now, too.

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit

The new web-based Route Builder adds Global Heat Map data and layers it over the underlying Mapox data that powers their mapping system, so you can see where others are riding. It also lets you see standard or satellite view, change the colors, sort by surface type, route for elevation changes, and more.

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit

It also adds Segment Explorer, which will show the 10 most popular segments within the view window. Zoom in or out, or scroll to a new area, and it’ll automatically refresh.

Turn it on manual mode and you can create routes off of existing or known roads, trails and paths. Otherwise, it snaps to known elements to keep your routes from taking you to the middle of nowhere…unless that’s your goal.

Strava Subscriptions are now just $5 per month

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit

Remember the different levels of Strava subscriptions? Packs, Summit levels, and various features you had to figure out whether you wanted or not? Or did you just ignore it because it was confusing (guilty)? Now all of that, and the Summit name, is gone. It’s just Strava in free or subscription mode, and the latter is just $5 per month for everything. Here’s how that changes what you’ll see on the free version…

Want to see how you rank on the leaderboards? Pay Up.

Segments are still free for everyone, but Segment Leaderboards and Segment Efforts are now only on the paid version. If you’re a Free user, you’ll still be able to see the Top 10 men and women for each segment, even if you’re not in it. However, to see where you rank on that leaderboard outside of the Top 10, you’ll need a paid subscription. Above is a screenshot of what you’ll see – your time will be there, but it won’t tell you where you rank or who is around you. You’ll also still receive activity achievements on the free version, and be able to create, explore, search, and flag segments.

SUBSCRIPTION

  • All segment leaderboards (except top 10 all-time and top 10 women)
  • Analyze segment efforts
  • Compare your results
  • Analyze your efforts

FREE

  • Top 10 all-time and top 10 women
  • New Segment Creation
  • Segment Detail screen
  • Segment Explore / Search
  • Flagging Segments
  • Activity achievements (XOMs, CRs, PRs)

Why did the Strava subscription plan change?

Simplicity, for one. If it’s easier to explain, it’s easier to sell. After all, they’re a business that needs you to subscribe. The new price is the same as their full Summit program was before, there are just no more lower-cost partial-feature programs.

Like most things, you get what you pay for. If you want all of the cool route building, segment ranking, and fitness tracking features, it’ll cost you a few bucks a month to get it. But there’s no advertising on their platform, and they don’t sell your data. It’s $59 per year when paid annually, which is about $5/month. Pay monthly and it’s $8/month.

But you can try it for free!

Strava Training modules updated to simplify workout activity tracking & subscriptions Strava Premium again, no more Summit

Starting today (May 18, 2020), they’re giving all free users a free 60-day trial of the subscription plan. Just be sure to activate it through the app store (on mobile) or with a credit card (on desktop) within 30 days (so, by June 16th to be safe). Then cancel (you’ll get a reminder) before the end of the free trial period if you don’t want it.

For existing subscribers, unfortunately, you won’t get a free 60 day extension to your existing subscription. But they’re working on something else special for you… stay tuned.

Strava.com

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18 Comments
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J'Anky Teal
J'Anky Teal
4 years ago

Good for them about being up front about their profitability and simplifying the pricing. I get more Than $5 per month of value from the exercise tracking and route creation functions alone. Time to pony up.

Mic C.
Mic C.
4 years ago

I didn’t see in years indeed, any feature that convinced so many friends to subscribe than the mobile route builder.

Kudos 🙂 to them !

I look forward for future developments.

Frank
Frank
4 years ago

Two questions:

1) Can free users still compare their own efforts from outing to outing to each other?

2) is the route builder feature really any better than RidewithGPS?

David
David
4 years ago

So many new features yet they haven’t updated the website map in over 2 and a half years.

Kevin
4 years ago

This is all cool, but are they going to reinstate the ability to use sensors with the mobile app?

I hope so. Great work Strava.

TheStansMonster
TheStansMonster
4 years ago
Reply to  Kevin

Extremely unlikely. It’s a safe assumption that any user that is serious enough to use a HR monitor and willing to pay $50 for one is going to be serious enough to just buy a cheap headunit or watch as well, and maintaining a sensor connection layer is basically like carrying an entire extra product that Strava can’t realistically charge for.

Emmanuel Vencesbarrueta
Emmanuel Vencesbarrueta
4 years ago
Reply to  Kevin

While my Garmin head unit takes care of cycling uploads to Strava, I recently started using the FITIV Pulse app to upload running/hiking/etc hr data to Strava, because the watch I want is $$$$. I feel I don’t do enough non-cycling activities to justify its purchase.

John
John
4 years ago
Reply to  Kevin

@Kevin: Bluetooth sensor support across all the variations of Android was a dumpster fire. It turns out that the one thing people hate more than losing sensor support is having Bluetooth glitches crash the app in the middle of an activity.

EP
EP
4 years ago

Nice to see a for profit business focus on making a profit. Kudos!

hunterdust
hunterdust
3 years ago
Reply to  EP

Doubtful this will increase their profits more than simply including advertising. They will just make their free users go elsewhere to the many alternatives that were always pretty much just as good, but now are far better for free.

CheshireCat
CheshireCat
4 years ago

I fully endorse the push for increased subscriptions…but the one thing that puts me off (well two actually) are controls over what I see displayed in my feed.

I’m not interested in virtual rides or those virtual rides my friends may complete, so I don’t want to view them in my feed, and there is no option to turn this off.

Same goes for challenges, I don’t care that people may select to do online challenges, so again I don’t want my feed spammed as such. Give the option to select what you view in your own feed and I’ll happily subscribe.

Piplo
Piplo
4 years ago
Reply to  CheshireCat

Totally agree!

Dave Reed
Dave Reed
3 years ago
Reply to  CheshireCat

Couldn’t agree more with this!

Brendan
4 years ago

I accidentally subscribed to the full annual subscription however I am happy I did. I don’t like the fact that they took away features from free to add as a benefit to subscribing, it feels cheap. Also, during the current climate where people have lost their jobs and have reduced income, it feels like a kick in the teeth for people who have been loyal for years.

I will see how this year pans out, if there are no worthwhile features there are plenty of alternatives.

JR
JR
4 years ago
Reply to  Brendan

But that’s kind of the problem here. A “loyal user” who is paying nothing isn’t a benefit to a company with no advertising and a commitment to not sell data. The free version of the app isn’t gone, but there will be less functionality than for those who choose to be a “loyal customer.”

John
John
4 years ago

One thing that drew me to Strava initially was the ability to compare myself to other mere mortals on the segment leaderboards. Over time, I’ve come to know them some of these riders personally, and ride with a few on a regular basis. (It’s great to ride with people of a similar pace.) It would’ve been a very different experience had the leaderboards been behind a pay wall back then. How would I have even known who to follow?

I’ve been a subscriber for a few years, I get that they need to make money, and it would definitely sukc if Strava circled the drain, but I’m not convinced there’s enough meat-on-the-bone with this new free tier to entice new riders to sign up, at least not in any volume.

hunterdust
hunterdust
3 years ago
Reply to  John

There definitely isn’t. not when there are so many other alternatives that were always almost as good, and now where the free version is so much better than Strava. I started but with MapMyRide until I came to find that the leaderboards were not all that challenging. (Not that I was on top of every segment, but the top never changed and where I was never seemed to change either.) But the free MMR is now so far and away better than the free Strava, and still plenty for what the vast majority of people need that that is what I will go back to. The funny thing is, I thought it would be MMR that got ruined when Under Armor bought it.

hunterdust
hunterdust
3 years ago

Nothing but greed for some of these. not even allowing you to create your own routes without a subscription? Guess it is back to MapMyRide where I started before I found that Strava had more users to compare to. I suspect, MMR will have more now

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