Strava, the popular social networking app for athletes and a leading digital community, today released its newest feature in the latest update – Messaging. Messaging allows Strava members to connect with one another and motivate each other in ways that they couldn’t before today. Head below the fold for more details on Strava’s Messaging feature.
Introducing Strava Messaging
With a community of over 100 million athletes, it’s a wonder why Strava is only just now – in v335 of the app – releasing the ability for its members to communicate with one another in DMs and group chats, but as they say, it’s better late than never.
The impetus behind Strava’s Messaging feature is based on their own research, which revealed that people perform better together. Strava’s intention with Messaging is to give its community the ability to motivate one another, coordinate workouts, share their progress, and generally inspire and connect with one another. According to Strava:
Strava Messaging bridges the gap between tactical planning and meaningful engagement, embodying Strava’s commitment to empowering athletes and fostering a thriving community. It’s a catalyst for real-time connections and discussions to transform the athletes’ experiences.
Strava’s reasoning for introducing Messaging is rock solid – anyone who works out knows how it feels to have others pushing you and inspiring you to keep going, even when you think you have hit your limit.
Messaging in action
In its debut today in v3335, Strava Messaging offers two modes of communication: one-to-one (DMs) and group messages. Members will be able to celebrate each other’s wins and coordinate with one another; additional features in Strava Messaging include:
- Share an Activity and/or Route: Easily share Activities and Routes to messaging to help assist in coordination and celebration.
- Group Message Customization: Message creators can personalize the name of group chats for a more tailored experience.
- Have Fun: Athletes can bring motivation, hype and even some friendly competition through message reactions, gifs, and replies.
Strava community members can choose how much they want to engage or disengage with Messaging, allowing them to tailor their personal in-app experience. Members can choose “Following, “Mutuals,” or “No One” when it comes to who is allowed to message them directly or invite them into a Group Message.
Michael Hicks of Android Central tested Strava’s Messaging feature, noting:
I tested Strava Messaging out with a colleague. It’s fairly limited compared to the best messaging apps, but has the basics. You can share links, reply to specific messages, add reaction emojis, mark messages as unread, or flag an inappropriate message.
You can also change the name of a Group Message to something thematically appropriate.
While sharing photos within Strava Messaging is not yet an option, they do intend to introduce that capability in early 2024.
Thoughts on Strava’s Messaging feature? Will you use it with your friends or other Strava community members? Let us know in the comments below.
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