The fitness tracking giants are squaring off in court over patents, heatmaps, and segments – and it’s messy and complicated.
*Well, not every mountain biker – I don’t have a Strava account or a Garmin device.
If you’ve been out riding this week and missed the drama, buckle up: Strava has decided to sue Garmin as reported first by DC Rainmaker, demanding they stop selling virtually every fitness device they make. Yes, you read that right. The company that relies on Garmin users for the majority of its data has just bitten the hand that feeds it.
What’s Actually Happening?
On October 2nd, Strava filed a lawsuit in Colorado claiming Garmin has infringed on two key patents: one covering segments, and another covering heatmaps. They’re also alleging that Garmin violated a 2015 cooperation agreement between the two companies.
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The lawsuit demands that Garmin:
- Stop selling all fitness watches and cycling computers with segment or heatmap features (which is basically everything)
- Remove these features from Garmin Connect
- Pay damages for “lost revenue and business opportunities”
For mountain bikers who rely on Garmin Edge units or Fenix watches synced to Strava, this sounds like a nightmare scenario. But before you panic, let’s dig into what’s really going on.
The Heatmap Patent: A Shaky Foundation
Strava claims they invented heatmaps for fitness activities. But the problem with that is it’s not true..
Garmin actually launched heatmaps in Garmin Connect back in early 2013 – a full year and a half before Strava even filed their patent application in December 2014.
Third-party developers were creating heatmaps from Strava’s own publicly available data as early as 2012-2013, before Strava had their own heatmap feature. Strava didn’t launch their personal heatmaps until September 2013.
So how did Strava get a patent for something that already existed? Welcome to the wonderful world of software patents, where the US Patent Office sometimes grants protection for concepts that have clear prior art. Legal experts suggest this patent could easily be invalidated in court – similar to when Wahoo tried to sue Zwift a few years back and the judge essentially said their patents should never have been granted.
The Segments Saga: A Decade-Old Grudge
The segments patent is more interesting, but equally bizarre. Here’s the timeline:
- 2009: Strava launches with user-created segments
- 2011: Strava files a patent for segments (two years after going public with the feature)
- June 2014: Garmin launches Garmin Segments on the Edge 1000
- April 2015: Garmin and Strava sign a cooperation agreement to implement Strava Live Segments on Garmin devices
- July 2015: Strava Live Segments go live on Garmin units
But, who the hell actually uses Garmin Segments? Everyone wanted Strava Segments, which is why the two companies partnered in the first place. Garmin kept their own segment feature alive as an alternative for non-paying Strava users, but it’s been a ghost town for a decade.
So why is Strava suddenly upset about something that happened ten years ago and has been a non-issue ever since? That’s where things get interesting.
The Real Story: It’s About Money and Attribution
DC Rainmaker has dug deep into this story and has a compelling theory that we can’t fault…
In July 2025, Garmin announced new API guidelines requiring partners like Strava to provide attribution when displaying data from Garmin devices. Essentially, Garmin wants a small text label like “Garmin Edge 1040” near the activity data – similar to how Google Maps shows its data source.
Strava’s Chief Product Officer went on Reddit claiming Garmin demanded their logo appear on “every single activity post, screen, graph, image, sharing card etc.” But that’s not quite accurate. Garmin’s actual guidelines show the logo is optional – simple text attribution is fine.
The irony? Strava requires the exact same thing from apps using their API. After last year’s API fiasco where Strava forced partner apps to delete millions of activities and restricted data usage, they’re now complaining about having to follow similar rules themselves.
What This Means for Mountain Bikers
Both companies have stated they don’t intend to disrupt users’ ability to sync data during the lawsuit. Strava says they hope Garmin won’t retaliate, and Garmin has simply said they don’t comment on pending litigation.
The reality is that Strava needs Garmin far more than Garmin needs Strava. Garmin users make up the majority of paying Strava subscribers and provide the bulk of the data that makes Strava’s heatmaps and route recommendations valuable. Without Garmin data flowing in, Strava’s platform would hemorrhage users and value.
Garmin, on the other hand, has been building out Garmin Connect as a comprehensive platform. They recently launched Garmin Connect+ with features like Trails+ that directly compete with Strava’s paid offerings. While Garmin Connect’s social features have never taken off, the company doesn’t rely on social networking for revenue – they sell hardware.
The IPO Angle
Strava is preparing for an IPO in 2026, and this lawsuit has all the hallmarks of a pre-IPO strategy to strengthen their intellectual property portfolio and demonstrate to investors that they can defend their competitive position.
The problem? They’ve picked a fight with a company that:
- Virtually never loses patent disputes
- Has thousands of patents (compared to Strava’s 26)
- Could easily countersue for patent infringement
- Could theoretically cut off API access and cripple Strava’s data flow
It’s a high-risk gamble that could backfire spectacularly.
The Mountain Biker’s Perspective
For those of us who actually ride bikes rather than manage tech companies, this is frustrating. Both Garmin and Strava have been making increasingly user-hostile decisions lately:
- Strava keeps raising prices, paywalling features, and alienating API partners
- Garmin has been pushing Garmin Connect+ subscriptions and restricting third-party integrations
Neither company seems particularly focused on what users actually want: reliable devices, useful features, and seamless integration between platforms.
The good news is that your Garmin will keep working, and your rides will keep syncing to Strava (for now). The bad news is that this legal battle will cost both companies money that could have been spent improving their products, and those costs will likely be passed on to users through higher subscription fees or device prices.
The Verdict (So Far)
This lawsuit appears to be less about protecting genuine innovation and more about corporate posturing ahead of Strava’s IPO. The timing is suspicious, and the whole situation has the smell of a company trying to extract concessions from a partner they depend on.
For mountain bikers, the best outcome would be a quick settlement that lets both companies get back to focusing on what matters: helping us track our rides, find new trails, and share our adventures with mates.
In the meantime, keep riding, keep uploading your activities, and maybe keep an eye on alternative platforms like Komoot (recently acquired by tech co. Bending Spoons) or Ride with GPS – just in case this corporate drama escalates into something that actually affects users.
After all, we’re here to ride bikes, not watch tech companies squabble over who invented the digital equivalent of, “that steep bit on the trail where everyone tries to go fast.”
Kudos for the amazingly detailed investigation and analysis by DC Rainmaker which first broke this story.
Yes, I’m aware of TF (and I’m a paid TF subscriber) but as you say, the volume of data isn’t there. For better or worse, Strava seems to have down up the “social" element so has that volume of users and therefore data.
Does anyone have any insight to what proportion of activities are recorded, by device manufacturer type? Theres some speculation that Garmin users upload the vast majority of activity data but, as far as I know it’s just speculation. There must be a substantial proportion of users who just use the Strava app or use Apple or Samsung watches, whereas I could easily believe that Google/Suunto/Coros/Wahoo/etc users form a small minority.
All these users could be blocked out by any Garmin buy-out….
Second sentence
The fitness tracking giants are squaring off in court over patents, heatmaps, and segments – and it’s messy and complicated.
The latest Garmins (550 and 850) have replaceable batteries. Although the actual battery life is inferior to the current stuff; much as Garmin like to claim it’s extended, they were caught comparing normal use for the current 840 with battery saver mode on the new 850.
I’m a bit loathe to move away from Garmin – mostly cos it’s just a faff to set up a whole new account, download new apps, set it all to work with Strava… For all its faults, Connect does talk seamlessly to Strava (and vice versa) and it’d be a shame if Garmin’s various attempts at copying others forced an about turn somewhere along the line.
At a guess, there is going to be something somewhere that gives an idea of units sold by company and this will no doubt be extrapolated to give an idea of number of users per manufacturer.
For those using a device and uploading from device and syncing to Strava, I doubt many (Garmin users, actually any device users) will start using the Strava app to record if they can’t sync seamlessly.
All the new Garmin bike computers have replaceable batteries. Expect the same to happen with the watches as they are launched in order to comply with EU legislation.
Garmin Connect actually is kinda a social platform, like Strava. It’s just that noone uses it like that. You can still have your activities visible to friends/everybody, and add pictures and comments and likes and all the rest of it. I don’t think you’d have to have a Garmin device to use it, I think you could sign up and just upload activities manually.
It feels like Garmin have been trying to build up the social side of their offering recently, they’ve had a few badge challenges in the past few months which seem aimed to get people to use the social features more. Also, they’ve launched Connect+ this year too. I kinda wonder if this patent trolling is Strava being nervous of Garmin playing in their sandpit.
I get the sentiment, but it’s kinda a ridiculous objection when basically all consumer electronics from the last decade+ have been that way.
The key point (Data “attribution”) is the nub of it.
To be clear, this isn’t actually Garmin or Strava’s data, it’s user’s data, captured on Garmin devices and fired to Garmin and Strava servers in exchange for signing some T&Cs that essentially waive ownership.
Strava would die on their arse if we all stopped uploading to them, they don’t have much of a product without their user’s data.
Garmin still generates a good chunk of their revenue from hardware sales, but would certainly be hurt if they sought to block Strava uploading.
They’ve cooperated (commercially) for 15 years or so and in doing so have created a mutually beneficial situation that leverages user’s data to then sell back to them as online services.
Garmin haven’t monetised their online services as aggressively (up until recently), Strava haven’t moved into the hardware side of things, two sides of a business model that was always heading towards this point. With a Strava IPO looming Garmin will be mulling the idea of buying a significant share of Strava (or they should be)… Do Strava want to be bought out by their biggest symbiotic “partner”? Probably, there’s money to be squeezed out of such a union.
Battle of The Wenkers
Garmin also make marine and aviation equipment. No doubt selling gadgets to sports enthusiasts is highly profitable or they wouldn’t be doing it but as a company they would probably carry on just fine without this sector. I bought a Garmin entirely for the navigation functionality the integration with Strava is irrelevant to me
No real issue if Garmin do buy Strava or a portion of…but I’d hope it doesn’t remove all the data and data results from Garmin Connect that there is now.
I’ve no interest in Connect+, but I am slightly concerned that this is going to remove content from the existing data feed reports available on the standard Connect.
If they do take Strava on, is this going to speed up the removal of data feed reports?
The data collected from.the devices via sensors and the unit itself will be recorded in the file that is saved. When that is uploaded to Connect, will all the same stats be visible or will they start adding a pay wall to access it – like Strava did…I hope not, but then I’m not using it for any social stuff, so things like leaderboards don’t interest me.
Seeing if I’ve improved my time over sections (segments) would be of interest, but not to go against anyone else.
(Edit, not quite true – I’m part of a couple of challenges with 2 or 3 friends and family to encourage us all to do more exercise…doesn’t really work as none of us really pay any attention to it.)
Other than the stopping selling Garmin devices but, this lawsuit really won’t impact me. I do think Strava is going to lose this, but I don’t think it’ll be a clean win.
I also don’t know why I’m posting so much on this! I’ve clearly got an interest in the whole thing, obviously just not as a user (of Strava)…kind of suggests I’m just really nosey.
Trailforks is a much more useful platform for mountain biking / exploring a new area. In France and Spain I’ve found it a great way to explore but it doesn’t seem to have nearly as many trails entered in the UK (and some of what is in there has been gone badly). The ability to add condition reports/issues/comments makes a load of sense for MTB.
strava got there first and was driven by road biking. I don’t know if they’ve changed it again but the minimum segment length they implemented a while back meant a lot of UK trails were too short to be added as segments!
garmin connect is fine but lacks the user base and I can’t see them ever building it unless strava do something stupid like blocking garmin uploads. Analogous to Twitter and enshittification in action. If Strava dumped a load of users would likely just see a fragmented market but Garmin buying it would seem a smart move at the right price. I’d guess it’s probably overvalued though. I’ve always thought their subs premium price is way too high and they’d make a lot more if it was £1 a month rather than £1 a week (only 2% of users are currently premium) although Garmin connect premium is £70 to Strava £54 so I probably don’t know anything
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/strava-statistics/
It is very difficult to get everyone to pay for something that was free before…Garmin Connect+ doesn’t (yet!) seems to have stuff that was available for free – the free stuff is all still there and available.
Entirely possible Garmin will just stop the uploads to Strava…I don’t see it as a 2-way thing, more Strava gaining.
People seem to guess that upwards of 60% of activities on Strava come from Garmin – so I kinda reckon they have the user base, if they wanted to capitalise on it…. or if their hand was forced…
Being so dependent on an external company makes Strava look weak. It’s a co-dependency, but Strava needs Garmin more than the reverse, as Garmin is a far larger and more diversified business.
Strava must see the continued development of Connect+ as another move towards the eventual aim of reducing its dependence (and thereby weakening Strava) by setting up a viable alternative platform. It already does everything I need – logs mileage, elevation and activities, and it would only take a small shift of users towards its own segment system to cause harm.
Perhaps Garmin is scenting the opportunity to take control of Strava fully at some point once it becomes a publicly-traded company. It could even be that the current owners see this as inevitable at some point, and just want to prop up the company’s value until they get through the IPO.
It’s would be amusing to see the way they bullied, or bought out and buried, smaller apps that relied on their data, being revisited on them. There’s always a bigger fish.
This thread prompted me to look at Connect a bit more (I’ve got it but never really look at it). I looked at the segments. They seem OK and I’m only really interested in comparing my own times but one thing seems to be missing – the ability to record a segment as an ebike segment or ride.
I don’t mind Strava, getting all those follow requests from young super models makes me feel special.
🙃
A suggestion for that – create a new entry under your Gear settings for an ebike. After you record your activity, make sure you set the gear to the right bike.
Isn’t as clear cut but can then be filtered on.
I must not be fast enough to have this happen to me 🙁
It’s all speculation. And both businesses have contributed to the other’s success, people bought a Garmin device because they wanted better recording of activities for Strava, people who owned Garmin kit because of their running or cycling interest were nudged towards taking up a a Strava sub… Connect+ might be a late attempt to monetise Garmin’s user base, or just a pop to scare Strava into doing something rash (seems to have succeeded at the later). All corporations want to eat their “strategic partners" and competitors, there’s market share and efficiencies to be claimed and executives can take credit for such things on their CVs. Personally I think Garmin are in a stronger position, and TBH I thing Strava probably expected to be bought out by someone else from the online tech sphere sooner (not some dusty old hardware company that they’ve drifted into having a reliance on). they’re a mature enough business now that chasing VC money is out, and being (user) data driven the next thing expected of them is bolting on AI nonsense… Everything is stable and relatively static both product and market share wise, but free-marketers don’t believe in homeostasis, either endless growth or ever-increasing acquisitions.