Strava App Attempts Untethered Fitness Tracking for Apple Watch
It has been a six month wait for loyal Strava users for an Apple Watch app that can run untethered from the iPhone. Unfortunately, the first release of Strava’s native app has minimum features and is quite unstable. Apple Watch Series 2 owners can use Runkeeper, RunGo or Nike+ Run Club app for untethered runs until Strava releases the next update.
What Works:
Watch can pairs with BLE heart rate sensors
GPS Tracking without a phone
What is missing?:
Custom Screen Layout – limited to Avg Split Pace / Time Out / Pace / HR / Miles
No swimming
No maps or routes
No audio cues or notifications
No taptic feedback
HR data can be very delayed
No discard run/ride option – automatically sync when in proximity to iPhone
Auto-pause is kicks in
No end of run summary
No cadence
No elevation data
No screen/button lock
No GPS icon
No Battery icon
No Live segments
While this release was long anticipated and disappointing it does sound as though Strava will make an effort to improve on this missing features. In the meantime I’m sticking with a Garmin Vivoactive HR for all my activity tracking.
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