Strava improves its mapping, route planning and strength training features

Strava’s newest update has improved its mapping, route planning and strength training features.

Strava’s latest update adds improved route discovery and planning to help you get going in the great outdoors.

• Find new routes easier than ever - Strava has added new route planning features to its app
• The changes cover route discovery, mapping, offline tools, and more
• Strava has also recently upgraded its strength training features

You might think of Strava as built for runners and cyclists, but it can track many more activities. With its latest updates, it’s added a few more features for walking, hiking, and strength training that fitness fans might enjoy.

Improved route discovery and mapping

According to a new press release, Strava has improved its route discovery and mapping tools, with the changes being “aimed at making it easier for users who love outdoor activities to find, plan, and follow the best routes.”

To that end, the search function has been made more intuitive and should understand prompts made “in your own words.” More routes are available, offline maps are simpler to use, and route cards have been updated with a new design.

Strava also says paying subscribers will soon be able to hear turn-by-turn audio directions without using their hands. Community tagging of points of interest will be available in the future, and users will also be able to find new routes on the web, not just in the app.

These features aren't in the app just yet, but Strava says they are “coming soon.”

More features for strength training

The routing update follows hot on the heels of another change to Strava in October, which brought strength workouts designed by fitness coaches to the app.

In that instance, subscribers can now see animated guidance for strength exercises, with live set and rep tracking as the workout progresses. Free users, meanwhile, will get a “sample workout” for free, and “a number of additional workout series” and new ways to track strength workouts are due before the end of 2026.

Together, the updates to running and strength training help to make Strava a broader fitness app, one that is moving away from its origins in tracking running and cycling. With the addition of coach-created workouts, it’s taken a step toward a more hands-on, guided approach than we’ve seen before.

Strava is already one of the best fitness apps around, and these updates might help make it more attractive to anyone who is currently on the fence about joining. With more features on the way, it could be a good time to get started.

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Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine.

That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

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