I use Strava free app.
 

I was wondering if there are better phone apps or is Strava as good as any? The owner of my LBS suggested Strava to me and I have been happy with it but wondered if there was something better or more flexible? I use the free version and have no desire to get into paying for a bicycle riding app. At 69 I am happy just knowing how many miles I traveled.
Thanks in advance, Frank.

"I use Strava free app."


So do I.

Strava's free version works fine for what I do.

Wahoo Fitness is free, recently improved for Android, very simple to use and you have the option to upload the data to Strava or keep it only on your phone.

Ditto the paid version of Cyclemeter, which offers a lot of features in the paid version for only about $10 a year. The free trial version lacks most of the interesting features and probably won't impress many users during the trial period. But it offers lots of ways to customize fitness activities, including interval workout timers with voice prompts. I've tried a couple other apps that claim to do this but they were not intuitive.

Did you hit start?

I use RideWithGPS (also free) and if I also want to share my ride with my Strava friends, I can download the GPX file and upload it to Strava with a couple mouse-clicks.

That way i don't have to share every 13-mile ride at 13 mph---I just hit the good ones, or the longer, more challenging rides I might repeat, to compare to past performances and such. I don't need people giving me "kudos" if I went around the block to see if my derailleurs were adjusted right. :)

RideWithGPS seems easier for planning routes, and tracking routes ... and everything can be swapped back and forth anyway. I like it better ... but then, i am old,. I am not part of the "conected" generation that has to post every morsel of food consumed, and such. Strava is much more social and much better for people who like to compete with friends and strangers.

Check out the free RideWithGPS download, and if you don't like it, toss it, i guess.

You download it onto your phone and then send me ten dollars every week via PayPal. Let me know when you've got the download.

Strava is a social media app for athletes. It's very good for analyzing your own rides, but it also lets you follow other people to see what they're doing. I like it a lot.

I use Strava free too. I also have a Fitbit Ionic that plays nicely with Strava.

My Fitbit uploads my rides to Strava, and it also includes my heart rate in the stats.

Thanks all. I will give RideWithGPS a look.
Frank.

For example, I can select "Ride" and Strava tells me I've done the following this month so far ...

Date ...................... Title ............................................................. Time ................... Distance ......... Elevation
Sat, 21/07/2018 ...... Zwift - 2 Hilly Loops While Watching TDF ........... 51:18:00 .............. 19.48 km ........ 221 m
Fri, 20/07/2018 ....... Zwift - Couple Loops of the Flat Loop ................. 50:42:00 .............. 21.27 km ........ 122 m
Thu, 19/07/2018 ..... Zwift - Slow Flat Ride ...................................... 32:23:00 .............. 13.39 km ........ 65 m
Sun, 15/07/2018 ..... Zwift "Figure 8" Route ..................................... 1:13:57 .............. 30.58 km ........ 254 m
Sat, 14/07/2018 ...... A Zwift Volcano Route ..................................... 1:03:44 .............. 23.60 km ........ 203 m
Wed, 11/07/2018 ..... Zwift - First Time on Hilly Loop ......................... 26:09:00 .............. 10.17 km ........ 110 m
Mon, 09/07/2018 ..... Zwift - Another Sprint PR ................................. 30:22:00 .............. 12.50 km ........ 65 m
Sun, 08/07/2018 ..... Zwift Volcano Route ........................................ 40:13:00 .............. 16.65 km ........ 61 m
Sat, 07/07/2018 ...... Zwift "Figure 8" Route ..................................... 1:18:14 .............. 30.23 km ........ 254 m
Thu, 05/07/2018 ..... London Zwift - Bit of a Sprint. Check out my Power! .... 30:20:00 .............. 13.41 km ........ 36 m
Mon, 02/07/2018 ..... Casual Zwift Ride ........................................... 32:25:00 .............. 12.87 km ........ 65 m
Sun, 01/07/2018 ..... Another Picasso Drawing on Zwift ..................... 52:41:00 .............. 21.08 km ........ 144 m



I've also done a lot of walking, some of which I've recorded on Strava too, and I could select to see that. Or everything if I wanted, cycling, walking, running, and all!

I just recently have been trying apps as well. I installed Ride With GPS, Map My Ride, and Strava. I try them alternately and haven't really decided. I notice your past rides are only visible in Ride With GPS unless you're online. If you use Strava and ride a common bike route there will be some "segments" scattered along the way and the app will tell you if you've performed well against your earlier rides.

I think they all work with some external inputs like heart rate monitors. I don't know if they let you know the heart rate as you go. Just having it as a fait accompli record wouldn't be as valuable. Hope someone chimes in.

Another question is what is the difference between the free Strava app and the paid? Has anyone here had both and if so is the additional worth the price?
I ride alone and pretty much stay on a similar route so mostly I am getting my time to distance info from the app. I am not complaining as it gives me a lot of information just wondered if the paid or another app had something different but considering my simple needs I should just shut up and be happy. ;)
Thanks again for the input people, Frank.

Can't help you with the paid Strava as I have only used the free app (for about 6-7 years now), and the free app does all I need.

The pay strava version gives you more stats. You can compare your efforts against your age or weight groups. There's more data for training purposes. That seems to be the major difference. (I use the free version.)

The question is, what do you want it for in the first place? What info do you want, what do you want to be able to do with it? I don't know the specific strengths of each system, but it does seem Strava is more for competitive people who want to compare everything against past performance and the performance of their friends.

I started with MapMyRide. At the time it did not support auto pause and restart. Heard about Strava, gave it try. Switched to premium version for more stats but more importantly, it's "beacon" feature. Set it up and it sends a text with a link to whomever you designate so they can literally follow you. My wife very much appreciates the feature.