[s1mon]

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.

[mrtksn]

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

[Gigachad]

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

[mrtksn]

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.

[Gigachad]

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.

[zumzumzum]

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.

[wahnfrieden]

Then change the economic model too

[asdff]

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.

[kevinschumacher]

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)

[ivan1783]

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?