- Strava has just unveiled a suite of new hiking features
- These include revamped Maps, available to all this summer…
- … and premium-exclusive features like off-route alerts
Strava users are getting an updated suite of hiking features, with almost all of them available now. Most of the new features are exclusively for Premium subscribers, although there are a few additions available for free users too.
Top of the list — and the only feature that’s been delayed until later this summer — are style improvements to Strava’s map software. According to Strava, “athletes will be able to view richer trail surface data, along with clearer points of interest like trailheads, picnic areas, and campgrounds that makes dense trail networks legible at a glance.”
This feature is coming to both free and premium users. It represents a big quality of life update, helping even free users plan routes ahead of time, while Premium users will be able to use it alongside route creation tools, which have been updated with dedicated trail features too. If you’re planning a big hiking trip and you’re already a Strava user, you could get a lot of mileage out of signing up to Strava Premium temporarily, as you get a 30-day free trial.
Other new additions include off-route alerts, a feature that “notifies athletes when they stray from a planned route, so they can course-correct before getting lost”, according to Strava. This is already used by rivals like AllTrails, and has course-corrected me more than once during a hike, so it’s nice to see it here.
Activity Replays is a new feature that provides an animated loop of your hike when you share it — this is also something AllTrails does, but what AllTrails doesn’t have is Strava’s massive userbase of people who love to share their workouts. I can imagine many power users will get a real kick out of posting a flashy video flyover of their hike.
Premium users can download routes ahead of time for low-signal areas. This isn’t a new feature, but it’s especially relevant for hikers. Users with one of the best Apple Watches can also follow the routes on their wrist, without a phone.
Aside from the Maps revamp, all the features mentioned above are available now. Strava Premium is becoming increasingly good value as an all-encompassing fitness app experience, and it’s working hard to eat the lunch of the likes of AllTrails and Komoot.
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matt.evans@futurenet.com (Matt Evans)
