My very first ride recorded on the activity app Strava was a lunchtime circuit with a work colleague over ten years ago.  My friend Steve introduced me to the app that had been around for five years at that point.  Initially I used the free version on my iphone and then later integrated it so that it automatically uploaded rides from my Garmin 520 cycle computer. Soon all my exercise activities were going on Strava and I upgraded to the subscription version that gave more detailed analysis of your activities like power curves and heart rate zones.  I was never particularly interested in the “Segments” features where someone records their  time over a specific stretch of road and then others try to go faster. 

Ten years later and this “Segments” feature appears to be the core of a patent argument between former allies.  In the early days, Strava may have been in awe of its major hardware partner Garmin but times have changed.  Strava now boasts over 120 million users world-wide, and tech companies like Apple and Wahoo are challenging  Garmin’s dominance in activity- monitoring hardware.   Unable to resolve its differences with Garmin, Strava has taken the drastic step of suing  it biggest business partner.   To those of us uneducated with the details of the patent wrangle it all seems like so much corporate posturing.  A great analysis of the legal arguments is given by DC  Rainmaker here:    Strava Just Sued Garmin: Demands Garmin Stop Selling Devices | DC Rainmaker. 

Whatever the outcome of the legal battle, those of us who use both Garmin hardware and the Strava social media app are likely to be losers in the long term.  While Garmin does have its own software for presenting results,  I don’t know anyone who uses it as the go-to app has been Strava, that up to now has been hardware-agnostic.   I have 2,400 separate activities recorded on  Strava, 1,800 of which are bike rides, including my 2022 ride across Canada. In that year, I was in the top 2% of Strava uses worldwide.

I have a great fondness for Strava and look at the activities of fifty or so people I follow every morning over my breakfast cereal. We inspire and inform each other and, with local riders,  give each other ideas for different routes and challenges.   I have virtual friends in countries like Germany, UK, Holland, Brazil and Mexico that I follow vicariously as well as friends in Calgary  that I occasionally ride with in real life.  I will sorely miss this community if the rift with Garmin ruptures the data link.

Similarly, I have long been a fan of Garmin equipment from my very first GPS back in 2002 just after satellite positioning became available to the general public.   Since then, I relied on handheld GPS when navigating in the mountains of British Columbia  as a member of a search and rescue team and when hiking alone.    As a family we used Garmin’s for Geocaching and as a motorist I have always had a Garmin car GPS system.   

I am torn between my loyalties to both companies.   It’s rather like being the friend of a couple divorcing when you love both equally but know at some point you will be forced to favour one or the other more.    Strava has the ability to issue a software upgrade at any time that would exclude Garmin-derived activities from their database but whether they would take this irrevocable step is anyone’s guess. 

I could continue to use Strava with Zwift and with my training program app Trainer Road for indoor activities and even on my Samsung Cell phone for outdoor activities but I would certainly be conflicted and inconvenienced.  

Let’s just hope that common sense will prevails and egos can be put aside to resolve this dispute, if not amicably, then not to the detriment of either user base.