Product Code Database
Strava is an American internet service for tracking physical exercise which incorporates social network features. It started out tracking mostly outdoor cycling and running activities using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, but now incorporates several dozen other exercise types, including indoor activities. Strava uses a freemium model with some features only available in the paid subscription plan. The service was founded in 2009 by Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath and is based in San Francisco, California.
Strava Metro, a program marketed towards city planners, uses cycling data from Strava users in supported cities and regions.
Initially popular with cyclists and eventually runners, by 2017 over 1 billion activities had been uploaded to the service. By 2020, Strava had more than 50 million users and three billion activities had been uploaded.
In May 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Strava made significant changes to its user terms. Some of the features that were previously free were only to be available with a paid-for subscription, and most new developments going forward would be available only to subscribers.
In March 2022, Strava stopped operating in Russia and Belarus because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In early 2023, Strava significantly raised subscription prices in many markets—some more than doubling. A month earlier, the company Layoff approximately 14% of its workforce. The company's last venture capital funding was a $110 million Series F in 2020. In January 2023 Strava also acquired Fatmap, a company focused on building high-resolution 3D maps used for outdoor activities, with a long-term goal to integrate Fatmap’s core platform into the Strava platform.
In February 2023, founder and current CEO Michael Horvath announced that he would resign. In December 2023, Strava announced Michael Martin, former executive at YouTube, as the new CEO.
On March 5, 2025, Strava moved into a new headquarters office on four levels of the 181 Fremont tower in San Francisco. In May 2025, Strava acquired the running app Runna and the cycling app Breakaway, increasing its valuation to around $2.2 billion, including its debt.
Beacon is a feature that allows Strava users to share their location in real time with anyone they choose, and nominate others as a safety contact for their workout. Other premium features include access to custom route-building tools and access to map segment leaderboards.
Strava maintains a system of leaderboards that show the most frequent runners or riders on a segment, as well as the fastest times by activity type. These fastest segment times (also known as KOMs/QOMs (King/Queen of the Mountain) for cycling segments, or CRs (Course Record) for running segments) have been widely criticized for including times by athletes banned for doping, as well as fake times logged by motorized vehicles and other forms of cheating such as biking on runs. In response, Strava released tools for users to report suspicious activities.
A separate security flaw was reported in June 2022 that allowed the identification and tracking of security personnel working at military bases in Israel. Distinct from the previous heatmap issue, this vulnerability relied on Strava's segments feature.
In January 2025, an investigation by the French newspaper Le Monde found Strava data from French submariners, with public profiles and their real names, at the Île Longue base for the Triomphant-class submarine nuclear ballistic missile submarines. Patrol timings could be deduced from this. The French Navy commented that it was "not a major risk" and would not "affect the activities" of the base. A similar investigation had already been reported by local newspaper Le Télégramme.
In August 2023, Strava was used to identify a Raleigh, North Carolina resident as the alleged who lit a "Trump won" lawn sign on fire.
In July 2024 runners for hire, colloquially known as "Strava jockeys", made headlines in Singapore, performing runs on behalf of clients by accessing their Strava accounts and fulfilling set distance and time goals, charging around 10.000 Indonesian rupiah per kilometer. In response to media inquiries, Strava spokesperson James Foster stated that the use of such services, including the sharing of login credentials, constitutes a violation of Strava’s terms of service and could result in a ban from the platform.
In October 2024, an investigation by Le Monde revealed that the fitness-tracking app exposed the movements and locations of world leaders' security teams, including those of French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden, raising serious concerns about potential security risks and the need for stricter guidelines on the use of such apps by security personnel. A 2025 report by La Presse found similar breaches for former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
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