A recent update has seen Strava remove the ability to have activities sync from third-party devices (i.e. Garmin, Zwift, etc.) to Apple Health.
Now, although rides recorded on the Strava app will still sync to Apple Health, rides recorded on a Garmin that has been set up to sync with Strava will no longer appear on Apple Health.
It’s not clear why Strava has rolled out this change – it affects all users, and so isn’t likely to be a change aimed at encouraging users to take out a premium subscription. We’ve contacted Strava for a comment and will update this article as soon as we have a response.
Strava’s advice is to set up your devices to sync directly with Apple Health, which is possible with larger platforms such as Garmin and Zwift – although some users have reported that syncing directly from those platforms to Apple Health isn’t as reliable as using Strava like a central ride pushing ‘hub’.
Any workarounds?
As ever with app updates, there will always be people rushing to figure out a workaround. Fortunately, it appears that there is a viable option for people still wishing to use Strava as their main ride syncing hub.
Setting up an account on RunGap, it seems, will allow you to sync rides with Strava and then on to Apple Health.
Instead of rides being pushed in this order: Zwift > Strava > Apple Health
They would now go like this: Zwift > Strava > RunGap > Apple Health
How long this will continue as a viable alternative route, we couldn’t say. But it does appear to be a solution at least in the short term.
And the reception?
Following the update, disgruntled Zwift/Garmin/Strava/Apple Health users have taken to reddit, venting their frustrations...
ibikeforcookies: "This is so frustrating, made even worse by the fact Garmin Connect doesn't properly sync active calories. I question why I pay for Premium Strava at this point just to have feature taken away."
KCBassCadet: "I cannot believe I have spent the last 2 hours uninstalling and reinstalling Zwift Companion App and Strava over this ****. So now the only way I can get Zwift data to update apple health data is if I use the awful Apple Watch companion app, did I read that correctly?"
sigsauer365: "Holy **** I spent about 3 hours yesterday troubleshooting Between Strava, Apple Health, Activity, etc. I should have looked here first! This is BS that Strava has broken the Health integration. I will send a strongly worded complaint on Twitter!"
Suffice to say, users aren't best pleased. We've asked Strava to explain why it's made this change, but in the meantime, there is a workaround.
