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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

#61

Post by InCityDreams »

perrylaj wrote: post #48
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 somewh…

I paid once upon a time, then didn't: purely financial. I have recommended the app to many people, about 40% of whom subscribed. I continue to push the app, but it's getting more and more difficult - and there's more and more competition.

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

#62

Post by cheeze »

stingrae wrote: post #35
samschooler wrote: post #3

Note: this restriction is limited to THIRD PARTY data, so: Strava -> Apple Health, still works Garmin/Fitbod/3rd party app -> Strava -> Apple Health, no longer syncs. IMHO this is better for me because now I don’t have duplicates in Apple Health and can sync to both services. But to each they’re own I guess.

Why not let users chose to enable/disable?

Presumably because keeping the link up costs time and money.

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

#63

Post by mattmichielsen »

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…

I've been really happy with ridewithgps.com for route planning. I do sometimes have to go to other sites for areas I'm more unfamiliar with. It syncs any routes I make automatically to my Wahoo GPS, and gives me options to share with others on that platform.

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

#64

Post by InCityDreams »

verisimi wrote: post #8
exabrial wrote: post #2

All of the (Garmin, Strava, Apple, and Google [who is trying really hard but failing]) want a monopoly on your health data. Garmin is the only one I actually trust currently, as they've shown 0 willingness to monetize your health information. The Strava/Garmin relationship is an interesting one: Strava has the social network, Garmin has the best devices [for serious Athletes, not casual users]. Garmin Connect is pret…

I'm still shocked and amazed that anyone would willingly share their health data with corporations. Why? What could go right? I say that acknowledging your point that this is possibly one of the better corporations out there. > Garmin is the only one I actually trust currently, as they've shown 0 willingness to monetize your health information. What about the concern that the company is bought out in the future? Or t…

As long as they don't reveal my 'hidden zone', they're welcome to the lot, and I freely give it whilst severely understanding the 'risks'. If my W/kg or bpm can be monetized, go for it. Hit me with one single ad, though, and it's goodnight Vienna.

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

#65

Post by Gigachad »

verisimi wrote: post #8
exabrial wrote: post #2

All of the (Garmin, Strava, Apple, and Google [who is trying really hard but failing]) want a monopoly on your health data. Garmin is the only one I actually trust currently, as they've shown 0 willingness to monetize your health information. The Strava/Garmin relationship is an interesting one: Strava has the social network, Garmin has the best devices [for serious Athletes, not casual users]. Garmin Connect is pret…

I'm still shocked and amazed that anyone would willingly share their health data with corporations. Why? What could go right? I say that acknowledging your point that this is possibly one of the better corporations out there. > Garmin is the only one I actually trust currently, as they've shown 0 willingness to monetize your health information. What about the concern that the company is bought out in the future? Or t…

Because a log of my cycling is the least important data to me and the value it provides is immense.

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

#66

Post by InCityDreams »

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…

komoot.com

Used by ultra-racers to plan multi-day events.

My only problem is, that when I select 'road ride', it tries to get me on a bike path. That would be a good thing for some people.

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

#67

Post by Gigachad »

voigt wrote: post #43

Is there any OSS/self hosted alternative to Strava? Where would be the challenges?

I actually spent a lot of time working on one. As usual there isn't a whole lot of special sauce that makes it impossible but its an immense amount to replicate all of the features as well as a rather expensive to run piece of software if you want something like segments and high score boards.

And after all this, your user base consists of the people who didn't want to pay for strava.

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

#68

Post by Gigachad »

notacoward wrote: post #40
mulmen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions of activities is approximately zero activities. That's an inconsequential amount of data. Even if it is a couple orders of magnitude larger than I think geographic partitioning can keep the volume small enough to easily fit in RAM.

It's not the size (though as mdoms explains it's more than you might think); it's the complexity of matching activities to segments at the necessary level of precision. I know what a consequential amount of data looks like, having worked on a storage system that routinely fed multiple petabytes of data to each of many analytics pipelines simultaneously. Geographic partitioning is only what gets you to millions of act…

I spent months working on just getting something that could match GPS logs to "segments" let alone something thats fast and scalable. Geo problems are so much harder than people assume.

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

#69

Post by Gigachad »

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

Apple Health is not a walled product though. Any 3rd party app can pull and push data.

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

#70

Post by mrtksn »

s1mon wrote: post #26
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…

Strava is extremely frustrating. I've been a paid user for 10+ years. They do add features from time to time, but it's amazing how slowly it happens. There's a forum on their web site for user feedback and suggestions, but it seems like they pay little attention to the users. So many of their users that I know feel like a run or bike ride didn't happen if they don't record it on Strava. It's a super addictive and sti…

A few years back, I noticed a morbid topic in their forums about a user requesting a feature but a few years later getting diagnosed with a terminal illness before Strava delivering on the feature[0].

I posted it on HN but got flagged[1]. I still find it eye opening, a reminder that the code we write are products impacting the finite life of other people. Maybe we should have more modular, more open software as a standard so that other people can work on and deliver experiences that the original creators fail to deliver.

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20200601152323/https://support.s...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14935487

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