Privacy 101: Balancing growth with privacy

Being deliberate about your privacy settings is all about being in control of what you share. 

Set defaults that apply to everything you post, and adjust any single activity when you need to so you can keep a training route private one day, go fully public on race day the next. Choose which activities to make private, how much of your map to share, whether to hide your activity start time, and more.

Here's what you can adjust:

Location

• Map start/end points. Create a privacy zone of up to a mile from the start or end of an activity or around a saved address like your home or the gym. Set it up in Settings > Privacy Controls > Map Visibility. Your default settings apply to future activities, so to hide the map on an older one, open it, tap the three dots (top right) and choose Edit Map Visibility.

• Map visibility. Choose whether your activity map is public, just for followers, or hidden entirely. Prefer not to show a map at all? Share the activity with a title, photos, videos, and description instead. Your community still gets the full experience, minus the location data.

• Profile location. Choose if you want to share your country, region, or city in your bio.

Activity

• Activity visibility. Every activity you post has a visibility setting — Everyone, Followers, or Only You. Everyone is the one that helps new people discover you, so it's the natural default if you're growing your community. Use Followers to share with just your circle, or Only You to keep something private. Set a default in Settings > Privacy Controls > Activities, or change a single activity via the three dots (top right) > Edit Activity > Visibility.

• Stats. Keep your most important training stats to yourself while still getting the kudos. Hide your power, heart rate, speed, calories, and start time via Settings > Privacy Controls > Hidden Details, or per activity through Edit Activity > Hidden Details. If you're racing or doing an activity you want the whole community to see, set that activity's visibility to Everyone so people can cheer you on.

• Group activities. Did an activity with a buddy? Strava automatically links activities done along the same route at the same time and lists your profile name. You can turn this off any time in Settings > Privacy Controls > Group Activities and adjust who can see you.

• Flybys. Flyby lets you replay an activity and see who you crossed paths with along the way. Control whether other athletes can see you in their Flyby replays in Settings > Privacy Controls > Flybys.

Hiding your location is one side of staying in control – but sometimes you'll want someone to know where you are. That's what Strava Beacon is for.

Strava Beacon lets you share your real-time location with a few chosen people whenever you're recording from the app, so someone always knows where you are on the early starts, the long solo efforts, and the Routes off the beaten track. To set it up, go to Settings > Beacon > Beacon for Mobile and add your safety contacts.

A few things worth knowing:

• Your safety contacts get a pre-formatted message with a link to follow your live location – no app required on their end.

• Alongside the Strava app, Beacon works with Garmin, Apple Watch, and other devices as well. 

More on Strava Beacon here.

Strava gives you control over who can follow you, who can message you, and who can comment on your activities. You can:

• Review your followers. Open your follower list (Profile > Followers) and remove anyone you'd rather not have following you.

• Decide who can direct message you. Choose whether messages can come from people you follow, mutuals only, or no one. Set it in Settings > Privacy Controls > Who can message you (look under Additional Controls), or tap the speech-bubble icon on the Home or Groups tab and open its settings.

• Remove a follower. Go to the athlete's profile, tap the three dots in the top right, and select Remove From Followers. They'll lose access to anything on your account that's follower-only. It won't stop them following you again, though – so if you'd rather they couldn't, blocking is the better option.

• Block and report. For anything that crosses a line, you can report offensive content or unwanted interactions directly from the app or website by following the instructions here. Blocking also removes them from your followers and hides your details from them. Here's the full guide to managing followers and blocking athletes.

Across Strava, clear guidelines in our Acceptable Use Policy and Community Standards help maintain an open, safe, and welcoming community. All Verified athletes, Pros and Verified Clubs are expected to abide by these guidelines. If anything ever feels off, you can report it following the instructions here.

A few minutes with these tools is all it takes. Once they're set up, you can focus on inspiring the Strava community, creating content you're proud of, and building your personal brand – while staying mindful of your privacy.

Privacy and growth don't have to be at odds. Treat it as an ongoing habit rather than a one-time setup, and do a quick check-in on your privacy settings regularly as your presence grows.

And we’re always here to help. If you ever have a question about your settings, reach out to your Strava team contact so they can help point you in the right direction.