- Fitness app Strava launches direct messaging to help users find dates
- However, the company has faced criticism in the past over privacy concerns.
- Read more: Athletes reveal the junk food that fuels them during races
Fitness app Strava has introduced a new messaging feature that could improve users' dating lives.
This week, the app announced direct messaging features to help you “coordinate your adventures” and “connect for inspiration.”
Strava is a mobile app used by 100 million people that lets you track exercise like running and cycling, but it also has elements of a social media platform. Users can follow each other, comment on each other's activities, and give “kudos”.
And now users can chat away from prying eyes – which TikTokers say will definitely be used to form romantic relationships.
Strava is a mobile app that lets you track exercise like running and cycling, and has elements of a social media platform. Users can follow each other, comment on each other's activities, and give “kudos”.
“I'm drenched in sweat from a long run and I'm going to fire off a dangerous DM,” Strava user Olivia Witherite, 30, of Brooklyn, told the New York Times.
Users on social media have suggested that the app could be used to plan jogging dates rather than traditional dinners and drinks.
Strava users joke that the app could replace the popular dating app Hinge. TikTok fitness influencers dished out Strava-specific pick-up lines like “Your pace or my pace?”
But some people worry that Strava could become the new place for sexual harassment, similar to cat-calling on the street.
Witherite often posts her running routes online, adding, “The fact that someone could see my run, know the general area I'm in, and send me a DM makes me a little concerned about safety.'' “I agree.”
Strava has faced criticism in the past over privacy concerns.
In 2018, security analysts said Strava data could reveal the locations of some military bases, putting military personnel there at risk.
Caitlin Armstrong, who shot and killed cyclist Moriah Wilson in 2022, is said to have used Strava to track her victim.
Zipporah Allen, Strava's chief business officer, said the app's users had long requested messaging capabilities, but the company had not yet developed privacy and safety guardrails to prevent users from receiving unwanted messages. He said he was reluctant to introduce it.
Users can choose to allow messages from anyone, only people they follow, or no messages from anyone. You can also block specific users.
