Strava users now have a way of restoring the chronological feed on the social network for athletes – assuming they use the Chrome or Firefox browsers to access it.
Earlier this month, Strava unveiled its latest update that ordered posts and notifications based on an algorithm similar to those employed by Facebook or Instagram.
> Strava makes activity feed non-chronological and launches blog posts for all users (+ video)
When the new feature was launched, Strava CEO James Quarles said: “Strava is an active community of people who are passionate about their sports.
“We want to create more ways for the community to share their interests and expertise. Posts and the new feed make Strava the best place to tell a story about someone you met on the trails, ask a question about new gear or to seek kindred spirits to help achieve your goals.”
Now, two separate Chrome extensions, or plug-ins, allow users of the browser to set their feed in chronological order, as it was before.
One is called Stravini, while the other comes from VeloViewer.
Both can also be added to Firefox by following the instructions here.
The plug-ins won’t help those who access Strava via smartphone apps, however.
After the changes were announced earlier this month, Colin Browne from Durban, South Africa, launched an online petition calling on Strava to either reinstate the chronological feed or at least give users the option of viewing it.
At the time of writing, the petition, which is hosted on Change.org, has been signed by more than 4,000 people.
14 thoughts on “Plug-ins let Strava users restore chronological timeline on Chrome and Firefox”
There are some people raging
There are some people raging about these changes. I use Strava to record rides. I follow one other person who rides maybe one a week. My activity feed still appears in normal order because it is mostly my own rides. I could clog my feed up with random people but why bother? The very people complaining that Strava is not a social platform are the ones who are following dozens of people and using it as a social platform.
Leviathan wrote:
I agree, but there are people out there with strange Strava habits. From what I’ve read, they care a little too much about who gets how many kudos. Somehow there was much complaining about rides missing the opportunity to accumulate kudos based on the time of the day when the ride was recorded, etc.
In my experience, the number of kudos depends almost entirely on how many followers you have. Some unremarkable 10 mile rides get dozens of kudos, while gruelling 100 mile rides in the mountains get 4. So it’s all a rather pointless popularity contest.
n_g wrote:
Stranger still some people have friends and are genuinely interested in their progress.
Strava doesn’t give two shits
Strava doesn’t give two shits about it’s users, it’s become too big and, like almost every other company around, has forgotten its values and isn’t interested in listening to the people who built it up.
The algorithm timeline is awful on every single social media platform that has adopted it (all of them now it seems) and it’s ruined Strava too. Just look on the forum and see how many premium subscribers have cancelled their accounts. The forum responses from them are a joke too.
Yeah….most people have more than one person that they follow.
J90 wrote:
Strava may well have it’s own agenda to raise money, after all we all know it doesn’t make much; but its core function is just the same as always; recording your ride. “Ruined” is the kind of flake out language of sullen teenagers. Its free for most people, so you get what you are given. Can you see those ads there? >
Sure, complain if you don’t like something, but please stow the hyperbole.
“There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept” – The Architect.
Leviathan wrote:
Strava may well have it’s own agenda to raise money, after all we all know it doesn’t make much; but its core function is just the same as always; recording your ride. “Ruined” is the kind of flake out language of sullen teenagers. Its free for most people, so you get what you are given. Can you see those ads there? >
Sure, complain if you don’t like something, but please stow the hyperbole.
“There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept” – The Architect.— J90
How do you know whether someone else’s use of an app has been ruined or not, Mr OneStravaFriend?
Quoting a Matrix character, and from not even the one half-decent film, isn’t exactly aiding your argument.
It is possible to want to
It is possible to want to follow people on strava and not have strange strava habits or give a shit about kudos.
I know a lot of people who ride, run, swim, do triathlons etc. I’ve been a member of a number of clubs. I follow roughly 50 people – this is me being fairly selective. Strava buggering the feed sequence up is a nuisance, but slightly more insidious is that it’s almost certainly preparation for turning it into a sort of facebook feed, with ads and noise, which I don’t want as I’m not on the actual facebook.
Strava have stopped listening to users and have let 3rd-party plug-ins polish their turd for too long (stravistix, veloviewer…). It’s surely ripe for a rival to challenge it..?
davel wrote:
You know, I’ve been thinking the same. But who’d do it? No one is going to come in to the market now without the prospect of making a buck or two.
The thing about this digital world is that we all came to expect everything for free. People don’t buy newspapers because it’s all online now (and don’t the press rue the day when they started giving it all away). We don’t buy photos because we either take them ourselves or steal them online. For a while, we stopped buying music and movies until Apple and then Netflix found a way to convince us to put our hands in our pockets once more.
In Strava’s case – what’s the proportion of users that stump up for ‘Premium’? Other than the regular free trials they keep offering, I’d guess recurring subscriptions are pitifully low.
The model for future digital success (whatever business you’re in) is subscription – no ads – and the option to pare down to deliver precisely the service you want.
Until enough of the population get used to this idea, it’s going to largely be ads and ‘one size fits all’ (which actually fits no one).
simonmb wrote:
You know, I’ve been thinking the same. But who’d do it? No one is going to come in to the market now without the prospect of making a buck or two.
The thing about this digital world is that we all came to expect everything for free. People don’t buy newspapers because it’s all online now (and don’t the press rue the day when they started giving it all away). We don’t buy photos because we either take them ourselves or steal them online. For a while, we stopped buying music and movies until Apple and then Netflix found a way to convince us to put our hands in our pockets once more.
In Strava’s case – what’s the proportion of users that stump up for ‘Premium’? Other than the regular free trials they keep offering, I’d guess recurring subscriptions are pitifully low.
The model for future digital success (whatever business you’re in) is subscription – no ads – and the option to pare down to deliver precisely the service you want.
Until enough of the population get used to this idea, it’s going to largely be ads and ‘one size fits all’ (which actually fits no one).
— davel
… or a proper Premium model, although I’m skeptical about that, too.
Eg. for years Strava have paid lip service to considering loads of its forum posts, which suggested tracking fitness for running in addition to cycling, and other stuff that people use plug-ins for. They only recently introduced that, and then it didn’t seem to work properly.
They didn’t want to invest a bit to keep current subscribers happy, seemingly intent on recruiting Instagram folk and preparing for another version that its current users don’t really want, but presumably is more lucrative, or has more of an economic future.
I get the financial bind that sites of a certain size find themselves in, but Strava ignoring its users so much has left me hoping it dies on its arse. Just waiting for a suitable, ready-made replacement to take its place 🙂
Simon wrote:
… Which I gather Strava doesn’t, at least not yet, so no surprise that they will shake things up a bit.
ricardito wrote:
Strava makes bank. They just prefer to spend it on shitty videos and in-app articles that get in the way on your feed.
simonmb wrote:
Strava’s business model isn’t based on selling Premium subscriptions. Their product is the huge amounts of data its users generate, which government agencies, local authorities, transport planners, etc., are more than willing to pay for. Strava Metro is their real business model. They’re focusing more on the social side of things because it gives new users and some existing users a compelling reason to keep uploading data, adding value to their product.
I pay premium and enjoyed
I pay premium and enjoyed racing a mates time via my Garmin on Sunday (beat him by 22 seconds over 2m50). Having said that, he may not have targeted that segment. If only my group would race for the road sign I could turn it off…
I wonder if breaking the feed
I wonder if breaking the feed order is responsible for the segment leaderboard clusterf**k ?
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001644530-QOM-KOM-CR-s-missing-from-the-list-on-the-profile-page
Currently I’ve noticed the following:
* Some segments only have a KOM or QOM listed at the top right of the segment page, if no KOM is displayed it’s also not on your KOM list;
* If you equal an existing KOM you now get that awarded to you, rather than it fairly going to the first person to achieve it;
* KOMs achieved on flagged rides (like the dick round here who records his motorbike ride every morning) aren’t removed from leaderboards;
* Losing a KOM to someone who rode it five years ago(!) (I think it might have been a formerly flagged ride).
I guess other people are seeing the same quirks? Curious if changing the chronology might have affected this, particularly with matched KOMs being awarded to the most recent person to ride that time (I’ve both benefitted and lost out from this).