Strava Just Made One of Its Most Popular Safety Features Free

Beacon map and features in-app

Going out on a run is a great way to stay in shape, but it’s not always the safest activity. If you’re running in a new area, being able to share your location can provide you with some peace of mind. That’s why Strava just made its safety feature, Beacon, available sans subscription.

To use Beacon, you can share a link to your workout record to your safety contacts, who can then view your current location, along with your past locations and starting point. Once you complete your workout, your safety contacts will receive a final notification. The app also gives you the option to manually text the link, and your contacts do not have to have the Strava app to view it.

Moving Beacon to Strava’s free tier instead of keeping it locked behind a paywall is an excellent move. With many gyms still closed or even just operating in a limited capacity, more people have turned to regularly exercising outside with an app alongside them.

Strava also recently gave its users more control over what information regarding their exercise routine was publicly shared. Now, both free- and subscription-tier customers can customize which metrics remain visible to other users, like GPS map visibility.

via Gizmodo