New Strava rules lead to panic about future of other apps
Changes stop third-party developers from accessing data from activity platform
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Strava has introduced a host of new changes that make it harder for third-party developers to access users’ data.
The exercise platform has long allowed other developers to download users’ datas to show them information. Some apps use it to track how much people are exercising and show them possible workouts, for instance.
But a new change to the terms of service prohibit apps from gathering that data and has sparked fears that those third-party services could end up banned.
The changers stop third-party apps from showing users’ data on their services, ban them from using it to train AI models, and stop people from gathering Strava data to help with analytics or data analysis.
The changes make specific reference to artificial intelligence. A number of companies from Reddit to X/Twitter have changed their policies in recent months amid fears that AI companies are gathering data to use to train their models.
DC Rainmaker, a popular sports tech writer, warned that the change “immediately breaks almost all coaching apps that have connections to Strava” as well as meaning that developers generally “can’t do much of anything”.
It remains unclear whether and to what degree commonly used apps will be affected by the changes. Third-party developers said they were working with Strava to understand the results they would have.
“Thank you for all the comments and concerns around the recent changes to Strava API use,” wrote VeloViewer, a cycling analytics app, on Twitter/X. “We have always had a really strong relationship with Strava, and are currently working our way through these changes with them.
“We will let you know when our position is confirmed - this is likely to be in a couple more weeks.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments