Strava brings free messaging to iOS and Android

Strava made an exciting move this week, announcing messaging for iOS and Android users. The popular mobile app for athletes revealed a new feature that will be available for free to all its users, Messaging.

Launched this week, the new feature offers users two options: direct (one-on-one) and group messages. In addition to these key features, Strava’s messaging tool provides more functionality in the forms of even more features:

• Easily share Activities and Routes to messaging to help assist in coordination and celebration.
• Message creators can personalize the name of group chats for a more tailored experience.
• Athletes can bring motivation, hype and even some friendly competition through message reactions, gifs, and replies.

The Messaging feature on Strava can be customized based on the user’s desired experience on the platform. For starters, Strava users can set their preferences on who can invite them to a Group Message or who can message them directly.

Also, the feature’s settings will be automatically set based on a user’s profile visibility, but it can be adjusted to receive messages to and from “Following,” “Mutuals,” or “No One,” under settings in the Strava app.

To send a message, simply tap the corresponding button on the profile of the Strava user you wish to message. Remember that while you can send messages to Strava users who follow you, you may not be able to message to a user depending on their privacy controls.