Strava offers free beacon safety features

Strava is a social networking site for people who love running and cycling. Sharing achievements when running or riding a bike and playing a role in boosting each other’s morale. However, there is also a function that displays the mileage and route on a map, so more and more users are disclosing this information on the Internet. However, if you are not careful, there is a risk of personal information leakage or being targeted by stalkers.

There is a risk of stalking when exercising outdoors or when acting alone. According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2019, 84% of women said that they felt threatened by some bullying while running.

Based on this background, Strava’s safety function is a beacon, a real-time sharing function of location information. The advantage of sharing location information in real time with up to three people is that they can watch the work until it is finished. When you open the link transmitted through SNS, you can check in real time your current location, the route you have run, and where you started running along with a map. This information can also be sent to people who do not have the Strava app.

Until now, beacons were only available to subscription users. According to Strava’s announcement this time, anyone with a subscription or not can use beacons for free as long as they are registered as Strava users.

However, although beacons can be used for free in the smartphone Strama app, the automatic sharing of beacons on devices such as Garmin, Polar, and Apple Watch is limited to subscribers. In other words, to use beacons for free, you need to carry your smartphone while exercising.

As COVID-19 has been around for a long time, more and more people are running or biking for health. According to Strava statistics, the number of marathon runners per capita in 2020 tripled compared to the previous year, and the number of outdoor activity logs increased by 28%.

Safety measures are important as the amount of activity increases at the same time as the risk of accidents or injuries increases. It can be quite attractive that safety features like beacons are free for everyone. Related information can be found here.