Recording an Activity

Recording an Activity

Navigate to the record screen by tapping Record from the bottom navigation menu. Strava will default to recording the activity type you recorded last, but you can change this by tapping the sports icon (for example, the shoe or bike) above the start button.

• To begin recording, tap the Start button near the bottom of the screen.
• If recording a GPS-based activity, you can toggle between the map and stats displays by tapping the pin icon (highlighted below).
  

Tap the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the record screen to access controls for the following:

• Display Settings allows you to choose whether you'd like to prevent the screen from turning off while recording. If you are using Android, this will be under Screen Display.
• Audio Cues can be enabled for the activity start/stop/pause, running splits, and Live Segments.
• You can enable auto-pause for hands-free pausing, or you can choose to leave auto-pause off, and we will calculate your moving time when the activity uploads to our server.
• Live Segments brings the experience of competing on a segment to your mobile phone.
• Strava Beacon to share your real-time location with up to three safety contacts.
• Connect a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) heart rate sensor.

Pause, Save, or Finish an Activity

Tap the square stop icon to pause your activity. You have a few options to remove resting time from your training:

• It is unnecessary to pause your recording while stopped unless you'd like complete control over your moving time. You must be consistent about pausing if you go with this option.
• If you'd like the app to auto-pause, the app will use GPS data or your phone's accelerometer to figure out when you're at rest. If you go indoors, you should manually pause, or else the obstructed signal may trigger a false auto-resume.
• If you turn off auto-pause and don't use manual pause, we will do all of our calculations on the server side after the activity is uploaded. We'd use your GPS data to determine when you were resting.

Pressing the Finish button will take you to the save activity screen.

• Title your activity, add photos, write a description, change your activity privacy controls, and more.
• On iOS, tap Save Activity to upload to Strava's servers; if you are using an Android, the Save option will be located at the top right of your activity - and be aware that if you tap Discard Activity (and then confirm this choice) - there is no way for Strava to recover the activity.
• Your activity will be uploaded to your feed immediately, and you'll be able to view the complete activity details after it is done syncing.

Other Recording Features

• Load a route by tapping on the routes icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Learn more.
• Live stats (subscribers only) like speed, cadence, heart rate, and power will show real-time values instead of averages. Runs will use the current average split pace.
• The GPS strength indicator is a halo around your location, indicating accuracy. The smaller the halo, the stronger the GPS signal.
   

App Data Usage

While recording, there is no data usage unless you view the maps or have Live Segments or Beacon turned ON. Otherwise, the app uses GPS while recording. Once you've finished recording, the app will need to transfer some data to sync the activity with the Strava servers. That's typically about 1MB for two hours of recording, but it can vary slightly. There will also be a small amount of data transfer to update your feed. Please note, however, that if you can wait for a WIFI connection to sync the activity or view the feed, you can prevent all cellular data usage.

FAQ

My activities aren't being recorded correctly. The activities are missing a map, or the recorded map doesn't match what I did.

There is likely an issue with your GPS connection. Refer to our article on troubleshooting GPS issues.

I hit save, but the activity hasn't synced to my account.

Refer to our article on troubleshooting syncing.