Tracking your next run promises to be a whole lot easier, thanks to the latest free update from Strava.
The fitness tracking platform, which connects over 150 million people worldwide, has unveiled a revamped Apple Watch application, which is available to download now.
The new release comes as Apple Watch usage with the Strava community surged by almost 20% last year, with Apple devices claiming the top two positions for runners' preferred tracking equipment, according to data released by Strava. With so many of its users relying on Apple-designed wearables to track their exercise, Strava has dedicated time and effort to ensure its software experience is the best it could possibly be on these platforms.
The new Apple Watch redesign comes a few weeks after new features rolled out to millions of iPhone owners.
For those unfamiliar with Strava, it's essentially a social network for athletes where you can record your runs, cycles and other activities while comparing your performance with friends and other users globally.
With its new Apple Watch app, Strava uses a circular indicator to show your real-time progress, letting you know at-a-glance whether you're ahead or behind your personal best performance
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So, what's new with the update?
The redesigned application introduces what Strava calls 'Live Segments' to your wrist for the first time. Think of segments as specific stretches of road or trail where you can compete against your previous times or other athletes' performances.
When you're approaching one of these segments during your workout, you'll see a notification appear on your watch display. A circular indicator shows your real-time progress, letting you know whether you're ahead or behind your personal best performance.
The interface has been completely overhauled to make your workout data easier to read whilst you're moving. You'll see your pace, distance, elapsed time and heart rate displayed clearly on the screen.
The synchronisation between your Apple Watch and the Strava app now happens automatically and more reliably than before. You won't need to manually transfer your workout data anymore.
The refresh to the Apple Watch app follows a shake-up to the iPhone app, with native support for workouts completed as part of Apple's Fitness+ at-home workout subscription service
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You'll also receive instant notifications when entering a segment, with vibration alerts for segments you've marked as favourites.
If you're a paying subscriber, you'll unlock extra features, including live pace comparisons against your personal records.
Subscribers also get distance countdowns showing precisely how far remains in each segment. Once you complete a segment, you'll immediately see how your time compares to your previous best before the display returns to your standard workout screen.
While the app is free to download, a paid subscription is required to access advanced features like route planning and more detailed training metrics. A Strava premium subscription currently costs £8.99 per month or £54.99 per year.
"Apple Watch has become an increasingly popular wearable for athletes on Strava," stated Matt Salazar, the company's Chief Product Officer. "This investment in Apple Watch is more than just tracking a workout—it's about delivering the real-time, game-like features athletes love to motivate them in the moment."
You can download the updated application now if your Apple Watch runs watchOS 10 or newer. If you're a Strava subscriber or trial user on iOS, you can claim up to three months of Apple Fitness+ at no extra cost.
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The timing for this update may not have come at a better time either. The update comes ahead of the watchOS 26 update anticipated sometime in September, where several more new features are expected to drop.
For starters, Apple's new Workout Buddy functionality will be included in the release, which is a personalised, voice-driven motivator during workouts. It delivers pep talks, milestone alerts, and post-session summaries using your workout history, heart rate, pace, Activity rings, and more — all powered by Apple Intelligence, the new personal AI system, built into iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
It uses on-device processing to understand your language, actions, and context—so it can help you write, summarise, organise, and even create images or emojis, all privately and securely.
New features also include Live Translation in iMessage, which translates incoming and outgoing messages in multiple languages across your Apple devices. There's a new wrist-flick gesture coming too. Perform one-handed control —dismiss notifications, silence timers or alarms, and return to the watch face — just by flicking your wrist
Apple's all-new watchOS update brings a new Vitals app to collate all of your health data, endlessly customisable watch faces with photos from your library, AI enhancements to the Smart Stack, on-devcie translations, and much more | APPLE PRESS OFFICE | GBN Plus, the Apple Watch is already used to track so many of your other fitness and health metrics. For example, Apple Watch helps millions keep track of their heart health.
Apple also built an entirely new app called Vitals for watchOS 11, which brings together a comprehensive view of all of the key health metrics already gathered and analysed by the Apple Watch.
There's no new data per se, but it's a nifty one-stop shop to analyse your heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration, and blood oxygen levels. Launching Vitals on your Watch, you can quickly check your daily health status and spot any metrics that have fallen outside of the typical range.
This health-focused app is able to ping you with notifications when multiple metrics are unusual, providing context on how these changes might be linked to factors like elevation changes or alcohol consumption. Apple says it's using an algorithm developed using real-world data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study.
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