Strava clamps down on vehicle cheats in new update

Exercise tracking app Strava has clamped down on “unrealistic” performances being uploaded to its leaderboards, as part of a new update.

The company is now using machine learning to analyse activities, taking into account “57 factors” such as speed and acceleration.

Among its goals, Strava said in a statement, is to determine if any portion of an activity was recorded in a vehicle, in a bid to improve the integrity of its leaderboards.

“Strava has improved leaderboard quality and identifies unrealistic speeds, GPS errors and other anomalies that could skew leaderboard results,” the statement said. “This aims to keep the competition on the app fair for all athletes by removing outliers and potential rule violations.

“If the system detects a vehicle, the activity is flagged, and the user is prompted to crop it or make it private.”

Strava users collect crowns, known as KOMs and QOMs, for posting the fastest time on segments. If a person believes a certain performance is not credible, they are encouraged to flag the activity within the app.

According to Strava, users are now flagging 72% fewer activities as suspected to have been carried out “in a vehicle” since the update rolled out.

The app now plans to widen its technology to other concerns about its leaderboards, catching users who record running activities on a bike, and stopping e-bike rides from showing up on non-motorised leaderboards.

The platform’s rules specifically state that users should not upload public ‘ride’ activities, which appear on leaderboards, if they include data recorded in a car or motorcycle, using an e-bike, or pacing a vehicle.

As well as improving leaderboard monitoring, Strava’s latest update has also targeted its Athlete Intelligence and Flyover tools.

Athlete Intelligence – a short, AI-generated, post-workout analysis unveiled in October last year and available to subscribers only – is now out of its trial phase, and has been supplemented to include power insights and segment analysis.

Strava has also enabled its 3D ‘Flyover’ maps to be shared outside of the platform. Users can now post the map videos, which trace the route of an activity, to Instagram Stories using a share button.