Hints and Tips for the Strava Smartphone Apps...

TheBigYin

As some of you probably know, I'm running a few challenges over in the Century+ Cycling Group, and most of them involve logging the ride data via Strava.

Now, as we're getting lots of new-ish signups for this sort of thing I keep getting asked things like "Whats the Best way to make Sure I don't lose my ride data from the Phone" or "How Do I record a metric century, if my phone only runs for 3 hours and I average 15mph".

Sadly, as someone who made the jump to a dedicated bike GPS from Garmin before Strava even came on the scene, I'm pretty much unable to answer these questions - my last Android phone used to last around 50 minutes with the Strava app running and nothing else in the background before switching itself off, so I basically gave up on it! However, I know there are some people in this group who ARE regular Strava App users (either the apple/android versions) and I'm sure you know how to get the best out of them.

So - I'm appealing (cue cries of "oh christ no you're not" from all the ladies :laugh:) for help from you regulars... share your hints and tips on getting the most out of using the Strava Apps.

here's the official line on Android from Strava...

https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/20992013-Extending-Android-Battery-Life

and for iPhone...

https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/21292027-Extending-iPhone-Battery-Life

cloggsy71

I use the Strava app on my iPhone & it's fine for 3+ hours as long as the screen is off. Although I tend to use Cyclemeter, which automatically uploads rides to Strava with the 'share' feature (which is cool). It also gives much 'smoother' GPS data (if I'm uploading a ride video to KinoMap or whatever...)

On the iPhone Strava app, go to 'More' -> 'Settings' and in the 'Preferences' section, set the 'Unit of Measurement' to 'Kilometers'

Job done

Kupe

^^^^^^^

Same as cloggsy, the most I have gotten out my phone (iphone5s) is 3 hours +-, however I only use the strava app on my commutes, which are less than an hour. For my longer rides I am use a dedicated gps (garmin500).

Bet advice would be turn the phone to flight mode and close all other apps. This should extend the battery life.

FatDadSlim

I was recently given an iPhone 4s from work and took it on a sportive to test the app and use as a back-up to my Garmin. Needless to say it was dead after the 8hr ride but when i went to charge it back up i found that it had recorded over 7hrs. so a bit more than others have reported?

Chrisiswinning

Great tip on cyclemeter - I didn't know that it shared to Strava as simply as that.

I use the app on an iPhone 5 (which is pretty useless for battery life anyway!).

The ways I maximise the life are simple. Turn off the live segment feature and the voice feedback lady, this saves 20% by my estimation. The live segment feature is pretty frustrating anyway - I mean, it only tells you when you've finished a segment. Buggered if I'm going all the way back down a Cat 3 to chase my PR that I just missed by 4 seconds - thanks Strava Lady.

When starting the ride I press record, then immediately push the power button to turn off the screen and stick the phone in my back pocket (and NEVER look at it again!). With 100% charge from the start, I'm pretty confident of getting about 4 hours recording - and my phone has a dodgy battery which sometimes starts thinking about dying when it reaches even 30% charge (love Apple) and has died with 45% indicated!

A cheap way to guarantee it will last is to get a slimline Duracell charger (or two) - this is what I do for longer Audaxes. Job done.

I'm planning on mating the phone to a bluetooth RFLKT and HR soon, so I'll let you know how I get on with that.

cloggsy71

I'm planning on mating the phone to a bluetooth RFLKT and HR soon, so I'll let you know how I get on with that.

I've got the Wahoo iPhone holder/back-up battery and ANT+ kit. I was contemplating buying the RFLKT+ unit & switching over to Bluetooth HR, Speed & Cadence sensors etc.

It's either that or I bite the bullet & buy an 810 & have done with it...

Spatialized

I'm using the Strava app on Android (Samsung GS3) and don't seem to be having the issues some report. Easily get 4 hours of recording with >50% battery left. But Strava is the ONLY thing I have running (besides phone stuff). I use Llama to turn off all the extraneous stuff (wifi, bluetooth adn some others) when I leave the house so that saves me greatly. And if I'm going out where cell service is spotty I'll put it into airplane mode so that it's not constantly searching for signal. While I have not done massive 6+hour rides, the 3-5 hour time frame have had no issues. It's when I'm running Strava and music that I start to have issues with battery life.

dolcezza72

Good info!!! Thank you!!!

allaboutthecake

Since I have trouble even getting Strava to Sync up to hit the record button & its left me hanging waaay too many times (stops intermittently, wth), then I rely on my Garmin and load to Strava after ride. This has saved my phone battery for emergency calls and/or just to check in mid-rides.

As for Strava app itself, I'm just not impressed with it. I only use it because I have family across the country and we cheer each other on.

cloggsy71

Since I have trouble even getting Strava to Sync up to hit the record button & its left me hanging waaay too many times (stops intermittently, wth), then I rely on my Garmin and load to Strava after ride. This has saved my phone battery for emergency calls and/or just to check in mid-rides.

As for Strava app itself, I'm just not impressed with it. I only use it because I have family across the country and we cheer each other on.

I can't say I've EVER had any issues, but as I said earlier, I use the Abvio Cyclemeter app (https://abvio.com/cyclemeter/) and 'share' the rides to Strava :glasses:

verdemujer

My husband has horrible problems with the program and so has stopped using it now. I find that if I do a regular shut down of my phone and restart, it helps. We both use Android platforms. That being said - he uses Pandora while he rides. He has to have music while I perfer to listen to the traffic and the birds. When I'm going on a longer ride, then I make sure to turn my phone to airplane mode so the battery lasts longer but it still won't go beyond 4 hours. I don't have a Garmin and I'm a bit jealous of the Garmin users. Oh the gadgets - what would we do without them? I also have noticed that if I don't have a solid set of green bars for the GPS signal, I will have problems with the GPS tracking regardless if I'm in normal or airplane mode. That is ususally solved by a off/on reset of the phone before I start riding. I haven't found that Strava responds very well to requests for help. And if it wasn't for MFP, I would probably stop using it so much and just use Endomondo as that program allows me to manually load workouts like my Karate. It will also let me add a ride with a map manually - something Strava doesn't allow. This helps when my phone dies thereby allowing me to finish recording a ride. This has been very useful for me with my various MFP mileage clubs and challenges. I wish I could do that with Strava but I get why they don't do that - no way to record the speeds - its just miles and elevation then. That is okay by me but Strava is more about recording speeds along with the distances and elevations. At the moment, I also wish Strava would allow a person to follow another person's route. Endomondo does that - you can follow someone else's route if it's been saved and is public. It makes it nice to find new rides and routes for challenges. I see these lovely rides in Strava and know I'd have to pre-map it and then be constantly stopping to look at the paper during my ride. I also don't pay for the program.

TheBigYin

My husband has horrible problems with the program and so has stopped using it now. I find that if I do a regular shut down of my phone and restart, it helps. We both use Android platforms. That being said - he uses Pandora while he rides. He has to have music while I perfer to listen to the traffic and the birds. When I'm going on a longer ride, then I make sure to turn my phone to airplane mode so the battery lasts longer but it still won't go beyond 4 hours. I don't have a Garmin and I'm a bit jealous of the Garmin users. Oh the gadgets - what would we do without them? I also have noticed that if I don't have a solid set of green bars for the GPS signal, I will have problems with the GPS tracking regardless if I'm in normal or airplane mode. That is ususally solved by a off/on reset of the phone before I start riding. I haven't found that Strava responds very well to requests for help. And if it wasn't for MFP, I would probably stop using it so much and just use Endomondo as that program allows me to manually load workouts like my Karate. It will also let me add a ride with a map manually - something Strava doesn't allow. This helps when my phone dies thereby allowing me to finish recording a ride. This has been very useful for me with my various MFP mileage clubs and challenges. I wish I could do that with Strava but I get why they don't do that - no way to record the speeds - its just miles and elevation then. That is okay by me but Strava is more about recording speeds along with the distances and elevations. At the moment, I also wish Strava would allow a person to follow another person's route. Endomondo does that - you can follow someone else's route if it's been saved and is public. It makes it nice to find new rides and routes for challenges. I see these lovely rides in Strava and know I'd have to pre-map it and then be constantly stopping to look at the paper during my ride. I also don't pay for the program.

you DO know you can recored the ride using the Endomondo application, then "Export" the route and import that into strava when you're back home on the PC...

To export from ENDO.

On your "Calendar View" click on the ride you want to export

Select the "More Options" button and "Export" from the Popdown Menu.

Export as a .TCX file,

then in Strava on the PC, you Select the UPLOAD button at Top RHS of screen

Select the "From File" option

then Browse to the location where you saved the file from Endo.

and that's pretty much it.

verdemujer

you DO know you can recored the ride using the Endomondo application, then "Export" the route and import that into strava when you're back home on the PC...

To export from ENDO.

On your "Calendar View" click on the ride you want to export

Select the "More Options" button and "Export" from the Popdown Menu.

Export as a .TCX file,

then in Strava on the PC, you Select the UPLOAD button at Top RHS of screen

Select the "From File" option

then Browse to the location where you saved the file from Endo.

and that's pretty much it.

No - I did NOT know that -- I thought Strava would only take outside uploads from sources like Garmin. That is good to know. I just so rarely use my computer at home that I don't know all Strava can do off a computer. Thank you Mark!