Strava’s API debacle highairys the messiness of fitness data

A restricted days ago, Strava distress its users over some recut offeive API alters. It might seem odd for one app’s users to fume over an API, but at the heart of the matter is the inherent messiness of fitness data.

Here’s a standard scenario. Say you’re all in on Garmin’s platestablish. You use their watches for running and strength training. Then, you pick up a Peloton bike for indoor cycling. Well, Garmin devices aren’t compatible with Peloton bikes because the two companies haven’t struck a honest deal with one another for data sharing. So, to get your heart rate on the Peloton bike, you buy a chest strap. And then you determine to train for a race, so you sign up for one of those digital coaching platestablishs — the benevolent where a personal trainer verifys your laborouts and produces you a customized set up.

The dilemma is now you have three split apps where your laborout history is stored, with three split interfaces — and none of them with the whole picture of your training.

There are a number of ways you could verifyate that data, but in this scenario, the plainst is to upload all your laborouts into Strava and then present all that Strava data into the coaching app.

This benevolent of scenario has come up dozens of times thcimpoliteout my wearables testing. Most recently, it came up when I verifyed a Mobvoi connected desk treadmill. I didn’t appreciate its native app, but trying to get the data into my preferred apps was a nightmare. At the finish of the day, it was easiest for me to go thcimpolite Strava.

The truth is many minusculeer fitness apps and wearable producers don’t have the resources to strike up honest data integrations with the thousands of other fitness apps and devices on the taget. It’s much easier for everyone to use Strava’s API and call it a day. And unappreciate Apple’s HealthKit API or Google’s Health Connect, Strava is platestablish-agnostic.

Where leangs get reassociate murky is third-party fitness platestablishs that extrapotardy their own insights from Strava data — a no-no under the recent API terms.

Take a third-party platestablish appreciate VeloViewer. The whole idea behind VeloViewer is to give more in-depth insights into Strava data, including 3D maps, charts, ytimely activity recaps, and guideerboards. This is a fantastic selection for folks who want more info than what’s natively useable in Strava, but the recent API alters fracture many of the aforerefered features. As you might imagine, VeloViewer users — many of whom say they only pay a Strava subscription to use VeloViewer — are pissed. VeloViewer has since freed a statement saying it’s laboring with Strava to resettle the rehire, but it doesn’t alter the fact that Strava hbetters all the cards.

Admittedly, this is a niche problem. Most people use one or maybe two fitness apps with their inalertigentwatch, and this isn’t reassociate an rehire. But for those of us who want the freedom of using multiple devices and apps apass various platestablishs? It’s a sobering reminder that it only gets Strava changing the rules to fracture a nurturefilledy originateed system.