Strava recently introduced a new feature called ‘Weekly Snapshot’ that gives you a running total of your week’s exercise on your feed, but many users are unimpressed and would like the option of disabling it.
What is Weekly Snapshot? This nice lady from Strava explains it all…
@strava ✨New Strava feature✨ Weekly Snapshot is your motivation dashboard. 🚀 Get an extra boost of motivation as soon as you open the Strava app. Available for all users at the top of the feed, the Weekly Snapshot shows the total activities, time, and distance you’ve logged across all sport types – and compares those stats to the same point last week. You can tap on it for a more detailed look at your progress, but Weekly Snapshot makes it easy to see how you’re trending right on the Home tab. #strava #stravacycling #stravarun #stravarunning #runningmotivaton #motivation #run #running #runmotivation #motivation #bike #bikemotivation #hike #exercises #exercisemotivation #workout #workoutmotovation #training #trainingtips #workoutroutine #workouttips ♬ original sound – Strava
If you can’t spare 37 seconds to watch the video, Weekly Snapshot is pretty much what it sounds like. It quickly tells you the number of activities you’ve clocked up so far this week, the total duration, and the distance you’ve covered. The idea, says Strava, is that it’s a little scorecard to keep you motivated.
All good, then? Not quite.
“I do not enjoy how this serves almost entirely to make me feel bad about my effort so far in the current week,” says a Strava user called _windrunner. “This is detrimental to my experience on Strava.
“My training schedule each week is highly variable due to plenty of factors such as work, personal commitments, weather, etc. I should not have to see a feature telling me I haven’t been working as hard when I have been putting in more or the same amount of effort as my schedule allows.
“Please enable a toggle for this feature so we do not have to see it.”
There are strong words from qrohlf: “This seems less like a feature designed to service users’ needs, and more like a feature designed to produce a KPI [key performance indicator] graph with an upward slope. It’s actively making my experience with Strava and perception of the Strava brand worse, and I would love a way to disable it.”
Over on TikTok, J’ananas says: “I hate it. It’s a toxic feature that’s just stressful and means literally nothing: especially if you’re recovering after a huge effort. I wish I could make it go away.”
Some people have criticised the fact that the Weekly Snapshot aggregates miles from different types of activities, so if you both cycle and run, say, the distances you’ve covered are lumped together.
We could go on, but if you want more you can check out a whole thread on Strava’s community hub.
On the other hand, Weekly Snapshot has fans too.
Rc4der says, “I like, I just enter the app and I see where I stand compared to last week. I honestly don’t mind if I have lower numbers.”
Merizedmes says, “I’m a fan; it’s a good reality check.”
Maybe some Strava users just can’t handle the truth, not that there’s many in a postion to be throwing any stones on that one here at road.cc Towers.
We’ve approached Strava for a comment. In the meantime, whaddya reckon?
12 thoughts on ““Strava’s ‘Weekly Snapshot’ makes me feel bad”: should you be able to turn it off?”
In answer to the question. No
In answer to the question. No, stop being such a melt, if you are not happy with the amount you are riding get out and do more. Stressful…. really.
“My training schedule each
If you know that you have been putting in the maximum you can, why are you bothered by seeing the figure that represents that? It’s not like anybody else’s seeing your data and judging you on it. A total nonissue.
As I don’t pay to use Strava,
As I don’t pay to use Strava, all the data is hidden.
I get the same – if not more – from Garmin Connect without having to pay for it.
If you’re happy to pay for it … fair enough.
But on the other hand … its *your* data.
Activity data app users
Activity data app users outraged when an app presents them with Activity data.
Will the madness ever end?
weekly totals are pointless
weekly totals are pointless until the week is oevr anyway. This is the sort of nonsense that has users wanting the week to begin on sunday so they can look at more km ridden at any point during the week.
Isn’t this like turning on
Isn’t this like turning on the TV at 6 o’clock and complaining that the News is on and it’s always depressing?
Or that every time you visit road.cc they’re moaning about bicycles, cycling, roads, drivers, Brexit or… something. Anything.
Strava is an app, it’s not a life-support machine. Either use it or don’t use it. Are people so pathetic and needy that they need an app to tell them to wipe their arses after a visit to the throne and then complain because it does exactly that?
I ditched my subscription
I ditched my subscription just before this release, so I haven’t had the pleasure or otherwise of using this feature, but for those who are racing or working towards a specific goal the app in general has useful tools in its subscription that can help. Unfortunately for many, this might not be one of them. My life schedule is too erratic to get much out of it and I can’t structure any training around that. I take what I can and when I have a race coming up I go all-out by feel before tapering down and resting in the preceding few days. The free-to-use features can still be handy and I also use it to help track equipment useage and makes forming maintenance schedules easier.
I think this might be a case of paralysis by analysis – too many ways to present the same data can be confusing and overbearing. To choose what you access and how you access it is generally the best way forward for any software developer. Not just Strava.
Matthew Acton-Varian wrote:
— Matthew Acton-VarianIsn’t it the end user that should be choosing? The developer is providing what is requested (presumably based on feedback, marketing dept and so on).
The issue here seems to be that some people become distressed when comparing the data with their own self-expectation / hopes & dreams. That is not really the fault of the software or its developers. However, I can understand that people would prefer not to see it in the first place.
Generally speaking, more
Generally speaking, more casual users (like myself) rarely if ever get asked, let alone complete, surveys, questionnaires to the like etc. [I can count on one hand how many surveys and questionnaires I have filled in throughout my lifetime and I don’t see that changing any time soon – and I doubt I am alone in that fact]. The development mostly comes from the more dedicated users, of which their demographic is more niche. If they do use feedback for such developments much or at all. Not all decisions are made through those channels so I have no clue as to who if anyone asked for this.
Lets not forget only a few months ago there was (perfectly valid) upset and annoyance over the new messaging feature – which most female app users did not want for fear of unsolicited messaging and stalking from creeps. Michelle Arthurs-Brennan from Cycling Weekly did a full article on the gripes and how such a feature is ectremely problematic. Even if you can turn it off. The messaging feature is on by default, and like many pieces of software, major updates can often reset personal settings such as turning features on or off.
Based on that previous case, I highly suspect Strava didn’t consult a wide variety of its users.
“My mental well being is
“My mental well being is being affected by my lack of effort, change the app for EVERYONE because I shouldn’t have to be reminded of this fact. NOW! Strava you’re so toxic and making life unfair”
Strave should now introduce
Strave should now introduce the ability to turn off this feature only for those users who pay for their subscription service
In this article: people
In this article: people getting butthurt by Strava. Honestly