Circle over Strava

After the announcement a few days ago that Polar was beginning to support automatic synchronization, the circle over Strava has been completely closed, with all manufacturers now allowing automatic synchronization of activities with the largest sports social network.

Strava has become big for a very simple reason: it goes beyond sharing your training and races with friends. The key is in the segments, both those created by other users and those that you can create yourself. What are these segments? They are fragments of a route on which users can compete in their own time.

And you can compete with yourself trying to improve your times, against your friends to be the fastest or against the whole community to be the fastest in a certain segment. If you are the fastest in a certain segment you will become the KOM (King Of The Mountain). You will not win anything, but you can show off in front of your friends.

Thanks to the automatic synchronization of activities you don't have to do anything on your own. After passing your training to your manufacturer's platform it will be sent to the Strava server without you having to download or upload files, all thanks to the Strava API that allows this interaction.

You want to know how you can do it? I'll explain it to you next.

Synchronize Polar with Strava

I'll start with Polar, for being the last one to join the party. It's a tremendously fast process, so it's not something you put off until later, when you have some time. You can do it right now.

1. To associate your Polar Flow account with Strava you must log in to the control panel by going to https://flow.polar.com/ and in the upper right corner click on your name to access the settings
   
   
2. In the new window, find the Strava section and click on "Connect".
   
   
3. It opens the typical "blah, blah, blah" window that no one reads, so you just scroll down and click on "Connect"
   
4. You will now appear on the Strava page, where you simply need to authorize Polar Flow to connect to Strava
   
   
5. Once authorized on Strava, you will return to Polar Flow and receive a message confirming successful synchronization.
   

 

After this, both accounts will be synchronized. A matter of seconds. From now on, every time you synchronize an activity (regardless of whether you do it via Bluetooth or USB cable), seconds later it will automatically appear on Strava, where you can also consult the information and see your evolution in the segments you have performed.

If at any time you want to deactivate the automatic synchronization you just have to go back to the same screen and click on disconnect. Or from Strava, by accessing Configuration - My applications.

Synchronize Garmin with Strava

In the case of Garmin the procedure is somewhat different, because it is not the application that synchronizes with Strava (as in the case of Polar), but Strava that connects with Garmin Connect. So the synchronization must be initiated from the Strava website by accessing https://www.strava.com.

1. At the top right of the page, click on the "+" symbol and select "Load Activity".
   
2. In the window that opens, look for the Garmin logo and click on "Start".
   
3. The tab that explains the procedure appears, and you only have to click on "Connect to Garmin"
4. A new window will open asking for authorization. Click on "Authorize App"
   
   

You will return to the Strava website, where you can check that the synchronization is already active.

From now on, after each sync, your activity will appear on Strava in about 15-20 seconds. If you want to turn off automatic syncing, you can do so from the "account information" options in Garmin Connect.

Synchronize Suunto with Strava

Doing it with Suunto is a lot faster, partly because there are no long texts to read before synchronizing both applications. It goes straight to the heart of the matter. Simply access Movescout and follow these steps:

1. At the top you can find the direct access to the settings. If you put the mouse over it, a drop-down menu will appear. You have to select the option "Other sport services". Or even easier, you can click directly here
   
   
2. In the different cross-platform connection options, click on the orange "Connect with Strava" button
   
3. The authorization window will open, where you simply click on "Authorize"
   

You will return to the Movescount website, where you can see confirmation that the synchronization is already active

You can select what you want to share. By default it will share all your Moves, but you can select other options. If you would like to stop sharing your races you have two options: select "Do not send my Moves to Strava" or disconnect both accounts.

Synchronize TomTom with Strava

With TomTom it's different, because you have to set up synchronisation between the MySports Connect application and Strava. To do this, simply open the application and access the settings. On the Upload & Export tab you can add a service. Simply select Strava and enter your account details.

From now on, every time you synchronize the clock with your computer, MySports Connect will send the activity to Strava as well. You can then log in to the website and see all the details and check if you've mastered any of the segments you were looking for.

Synchronize Fitbit with Strava

You will only be able to synchronize the highlighted activities with Fitbit Surge, logical because at the moment it is the only device of the brand that has GPS. In order to activate the synchronization in Fitbit they have prepared a direct access in their page.

1. Go to the shortcut website to activate the synchronization, which is at http://strava.fitbit.com/Here you simply click on "Connect".
   
2. In the window below you will be asked for permission to synchronize both accounts, and you will of course click on "Authorize", because that is what you came here to do.
   

After confirming the authorization, you will be returned to a page explaining how it works.

With these three simple steps you will have both platforms synchronized. From now on when you synchronize any activity that has GPS data it will fly directly to Strava, to the delight of your chosen segments.

But synchronization is two-way, so if you track activities with another device or with the Strava application, after the workout is over the calorie and minute activity data will be added to your Fitbit account.

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So from now on, compete with your friends. Thanks for reading!