What is Strava? What parents need to know

Strava is a fitness app used to track and record data from exercise sessions. Runners, swimmers, and cyclists are the main target audience of the Strava app. However, it can also track many other activities like football, tennis, and yoga. In addition to fitness data, Strava has social features which allow users to connect with each other.

The Strava app is available for iOS, Android, and smartwatches such as the Apple Watch and Wear OS. Strava uses a freemium model. Anyone can use the app for free, but some features require a subscription. This subscription costs £8.99 per month or £54.99 per year, or a family plan that gives 4 subscriptions is also available for £99.99 per year.

Strava allows anyone aged 13 or over to create an account and use the app.

The main function of the Strava app is that it records details about user’s fitness activities. These details include distance, time, speed, calories burned, and the route taken. Users can integrate their other fitness devices, like Peloton and Fitbit, to get more accurate tracking results.

The Strava app has a leaderboard which ranks users based on their performances. There is an individual leaderboard for each ‘segment’, with a segment being an area of a route that users can use to compare their activity against each other. Gamifying exercise can motivate users as they will want to work out more to move up the leaderboard. If users prefer not to compete against others, they can also see their own personal best time and try and beat this.

Users can use the app as a social networking platform to share photos and videos of their workouts and comment on others’ posts. They can also post a map showing where they have run or cycled, and the app automatically creates it after each exercise. Users can directly message other users that follow them and start group chats with up to 25 people. There are block and reporting features for any users that post inappropriate or hateful content.

Subscribing to the premium version of Strava gives users the ability to set custom goals, engage in group challenges with other users and access training plans. The majority of essential features are available in the free version.e same thing at the same time even if they are not in the same place.

Strava has a range of parental controls available, and if you are under 18 some of these controls will automatically be applied to your account. Parental settings include:

• Profile visibility: Users can control who can view their profile. By default, only approved followers can view under 18 users’ profiles.
• Activities: Controls who can view your activities and whether you will appear on public leaderboards. The same applies for group activities you are part of. For under 18’s, only followers can view their activities.
• Map visibility: This setting determines how other users see the map from your activities. Under 18’s maps have the first and last 400 meters of the activity hidden by default.
• Mentions: Decides who can mention you in comments or posts. By default, under 18 users can only be mentioned by those who follow them.
• Messaging: Controls if users can use the messaging function. Users under 18 do not have access to the messaging feature.

•  Encourages fitness and exercise
• Free version has all necessary features
• Range of parental controls
• Leaderboards and challenges provide motivation
• Covers variety of physical activities

There are some risks to stay aware of if your child uses Strava. These revolve around the social and GPS features of the app.

Sharing the map of the route taken after a run means other people on Strava can see your child’s location. If they often take a similar route each day, people viewing the maps could figure out where your child lives. By default, only people who follow your child can see the map, and the system will hide the first and last 400 metres of the route to prevent others from seeing exactly where your child lives.

However, it might be worth turning off the map feature altogether to give your child more privacy while using Strava. Speaking with your child about sharing online safely can also help them keep their location data private.

The social features of Strava can also pose a threat to users. Users under 18 years old cannot turn on messaging. Other users can still contact them through comments and posts though, as by default followers can mention those they follow in their posts. Followers might use these posts to target your child, insulting their Strava performance or making inappropriate comments towards them.

If another user targets your child, you can help them defend themselves by showing them how to use the block and report features on Strava. Users under 18 must approve all follow requests, so teaching them to only accept follow requests from friends they know in real life can also keep them safe. You can also give them advice on what to do if they receive mean comments to help them deal with it.