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Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

dcrainmaker.com

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Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#41

Post by asdff »

adam-_- wrote: post #22
mdoms wrote: post #11

Garmin Connect is so much better than Strava it's not even close. The only reason I could possibly imagine preferring Strava is if I desperately need my social circle to be aware of my every workout. For those of us who do this for ourselves and not the approval of our peers Strava is miles behind.

Maybe it’s just what you know but every time I’ve used Garmin Connect it’s felt like a dumpster fire compared to Strava. Even for route planning (years ago) which I would not say Strava is fantastic at, it still seemed worse. YMMV

Are any apps at all actually good for route planning especially on a bike? It seems like that this is something in software that just sucks. I don't even bother anymore, I open up a topographical map and figure out routes by hand. No more turning left across six lanes from a stop sign. No more route thats "mostly flat", aside from the 400ft of undulating terrain that saps you. No sharing the road with semitrucks that go 50mph and are actively trying to force you off and into riding on the sidewalk. No more surprises. All this planning turns things into a homework assignment, but its worth the investment for points of interest you regularly are going to.

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#42

Post by asdff »

dc-programmer wrote: post #23
CoastalCoder wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question, is that comment meant at face value, or is it sarcastic? My impression of Apple has been that it's a mixed-bag for privacy, etc., so I'm actually not sure.

Apple’s garden (orchard?) is famously walled. This just means they intentionally make their hardware incompatible with other hardware/software. Presumable so you have to buy more Apple stuff

Not really the case for their computers imo. OS X is like a linux distro but with paid maintainers.

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#44

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

asdff wrote: post #41
adam-_- wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it’s just what you know but every time I’ve used Garmin Connect it’s felt like a dumpster fire compared to Strava. Even for route planning (years ago) which I would not say Strava is fantastic at, it still seemed worse. YMMV

Are any apps at all actually good for route planning especially on a bike? It seems like that this is something in software that just sucks. I don't even bother anymore, I open up a topographical map and figure out routes by hand. No more turning left across six lanes from a stop sign. No more route thats "mostly flat", aside from the 400ft of undulating terrain that saps you. No sharing the road with semitrucks that…

https://cycle.travel/map

Disclaimer - my site. It’s very focused on quiet routes, so will generally prefer a hilly road if the alternative is a traffic-infested one. Europe/North America/AU+NZ only at present.

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#46

Post by whimsicalism »

asdff wrote: post #42
dc-programmer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple’s garden (orchard?) is famously walled. This just means they intentionally make their hardware incompatible with other hardware/software. Presumable so you have to buy more Apple stuff

Not really the case for their computers imo. OS X is like a linux distro but with paid maintainers.

Try getting Siri to use google maps :)

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#47

Post by hondo77 »

asdff wrote: post #41
adam-_- wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it’s just what you know but every time I’ve used Garmin Connect it’s felt like a dumpster fire compared to Strava. Even for route planning (years ago) which I would not say Strava is fantastic at, it still seemed worse. YMMV

Are any apps at all actually good for route planning especially on a bike? It seems like that this is something in software that just sucks. I don't even bother anymore, I open up a topographical map and figure out routes by hand. No more turning left across six lanes from a stop sign. No more route thats "mostly flat", aside from the 400ft of undulating terrain that saps you. No sharing the road with semitrucks that…

> Are any apps at all actually good for route planning especially on a bike?

No.

Google Maps directions for bikes is a good start but you have to take the routes with a big grain of salt (even with that Google is still better than every other app I've tried). I street view the route to make sure there's a least a good shoulder and re-route appropriately.

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#48

Post by perrylaj »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #32
Gigachad wrote: post #4

I wonder what is going on at Strava. It feels like peak Strava was some time around 2018. Since then, it seems like features have only been getting disabled, hidden behind opt in flags, or moved to the paid plans. I completely understand the decision to move things to paid since their service does cost a lot to run and the subscription isn't expensive, but where are all the new and cool features that should have come…

They're starting to run it like a business. Most apps/startups begin as an exploration of product/market fit. They'll try a lot of different things and use analytics (even simple server-side stats) to determine what people actually use in the app. Very frequently, you discover that the things you thought your users would want are actually only used by 0.05% of your customers. Eventually you have to start shedding rar…

> They're not converting to paid unless they're forced to, and you're not gaining any money by letting them stay on the free plan for another 5 years.

This is true, but it ignores the importance of network effects in products based on social media/interaction. I'd guess that a huge part of the attraction and user retention ability of Strava is the social aspect, which they'd be crippling if free users migrated somewhere else. As a secondary issue, Strava also benefits from the data generated by free users, though I have no idea what the value of that data might be.

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#49

Post by [deleted] »

whimsicalism wrote: post #31
notacoward wrote: post #18

The weird thing is that they claim it's to avoid duplicate activities, but they totally know how to recognize duplicates already. Every so often, there's some sort of glitch in one of my activities getting from Garmin to Strava. If I'm feeling impatient, I download the .fit file from Garmin and upload it to Strava myself, and I never get a duplicate that way . Happened for the first time in a while just last week. Cl…

I thought they meant duplicate activities on the Apple Health side. If they can't read what the other services are writing to Apple Health then they have no way of avoiding duplicates.

[deleted]

Re: Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health

#50

Post by notacoward »

whimsicalism wrote: post #31
notacoward wrote: post #18

The weird thing is that they claim it's to avoid duplicate activities, but they totally know how to recognize duplicates already. Every so often, there's some sort of glitch in one of my activities getting from Garmin to Strava. If I'm feeling impatient, I download the .fit file from Garmin and upload it to Strava myself, and I never get a duplicate that way . Happened for the first time in a while just last week. Cl…

I thought they meant duplicate activities on the Apple Health side. If they can't read what the other services are writing to Apple Health then they have no way of avoiding duplicates.

Doesn't that suggest that Apple is failing to detect and coalesce duplicates, like Strava and (AFAIK) other similar services like Garmin Connect or old MapMyRun do? That seems pretty damning, and also not Strava's problem.
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