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Comment by Gigachad | Hacker News Reader

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 out over the last few years?

And I wonder if the article is correct in that they are pivoting away from segments. That seems strange since segments seem like the most compelling feature.

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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 sticky product, yet Strava seems to squander this loyalty by ignoring their customers.

Route building and personal heatmaps are some of my favorite features, but there's so much that could be added (like a simple search). To some degree their customers are spread out over so many market segments beyond the original biking and running that they started with. Each segment has their own needs and wants. Then there's all the hardware (watches, power meters, trainers, etc..) that needs to be integrated and supported.

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

It is modular. You could download the route GPX, and reverse it yourself.

Sure but I would like to see something more integrated. Browsers are a good example actually, allowing extensions to add all kind of "missing" functionality on websites. We don't have that on mobile or desktop apps and would have been nice. It's one of the strengths of browser based apps.

No one would actually do this though. You could do this with a browser just fine with an extension but no one is going to spend their time adding advanced features to someone elses paid product. It would also risk breaking on every change.

I know I wouldn't build something like this, but many people do, there are many Strava browser extensions out there. I used VeloViewer for many years before I dumped Strava altogether.

Then change the economic model too

I'm an occasional strava user because I wanted just something to log these data and strava seemed like the popular choice, but what a clunky app. First off there are so many features and I have no clue how to use any of them, half of them ask for a subscription. Feels like my junky cut rate wyzecam app always asking to upcharge me, or maybe Spirit Airlines. The auto pause feature rarely works correctly (maybe not at all?) on my cellphone. I'm sitting there still as a statue and I'm watching average speed tick down...

I used it snowboarding and there's some way to track runs and push out the whole day of skiing as one post, but I couldn't figure it out, so I just polluted my own feed with these single run posts. Then for some of them I forget to start recording halfway down the run because once again thanks to the broken auto pause feature, so now I need to remember to start it up at the top of the hill in addition to already having to put on a snowboard binding. Then thanks to the auto pause and me forgetting about pausing the run, it records me shuffling about in the lift line and then riding 25mph on the nose on the gondola.

For snowboarding, try Slopes.

Or, if you happen to have an Ikon pass, the official Ikon Pass app (May work at ikon pass resorts without the pass — not sure?)

Both know the difference between a run and a lift. Slopes doesn’t quite get pauses. Not sure about how ikon handles it. (I don’t get too obsessive about it). Nice thing about ikon app is that it tells you which runs you took. (Slopes is seemingly adding this but it’s not prime time yet)

I'm a strava user and use it for biking and running...I am also a snowboarder and I have to ask...why would you ever record snowboarding runs?

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 rarely used features and limiting free plans, even if it makes the non-paying users angry.

Truth is, it doesn't really matter if you're losing someone who spend 5 years on the free plan but refused to sign up for the paid plan. 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.

> but where are all the new and cool features that should have come out over the last few years?

Cutting rarely-used features like this one could be a sign that they're trying to free up engineering resources to ship new features.

> 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.

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.

From discussions I've had with people at Strava, they're trying to be more focused on implementing a few key features really well. When the original founders returned in 2018 or 2019, the app had a ton of features that had been half integrated, couldn't be found in order to be used, etc etc.

They paired back things that weren't working, moved to focus on revenue (as they weren't going to be able to grow into the social network for all activities like they tried).

I think it's the right strategy, but this move makes no sense. It's very easy for them to manage duplicate data, and I'm surprised to see them suggest users set-up their garmin device to connect directly to Apple. This essentially makes it easier for strava to be cut out of the loop in the future if the social aspect isn't working for you.

Re: "key features really well", they're not even doing this.

My normal morning jog goes under a large bridge. This often confuses my phone's GPS, leading it to return a spurious point or two a kilometer away. Strava is completely incapable of detecting these spikes (accelerating to 200 km/h when running is normal right?) and offers no way to edit them out afterwards, meaning all my speed and distance records, progression charts etc are ruined by junk data.

What phone are you using? This surprises me because most phones are using some sort of sensor fusion to deal with this exact issue.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalman_filter

> And I wonder if the article is correct in that they are pivoting away from segments

That's not what DCR wrote, that part was clearly about user perception: Strava has grown into something bigger than just that app that declares you KOM when you go really fast.

There's also the reality where their client base gets older and loses interest in taking their sport as seriously. My entire cycling circle stopped regularly using Strava years ago because we just all got older and no longer had that competitive interest.

Started using it in 2019 and it only got worse, it's a shame because I really enjoy the social aspect of it since it bundles a lot of sport and gear into one place but with this trend I feel like the users will be leaving.

There is no business here that scales sadly. In fact, it gets more expensive for Strava to operate the longer you are a subscriber

And it apparently isn't valuable enough to charge more for ($5/month)

>> it gets more expensive for Strava to operate the longer you are a subscriber

What are you referring to? That Strava has to store&compute more and more data from a user the longer they are using the platform?

Yes - they pile up ride and run data over years for me - but get the same $5/month.

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