Strava is finally letting users search activities

Athletes can now find old rides without scrolling through all previous activities

Photo by: strava

Lily Hansen-Gillis February 10, 2021

In 2018 Strava quietly pulled the activity search feature from its desktop app. Users were no longer able to use the search function to go through their previous actives and the activities of others. The feature was removed due to privacy controversy when Strava’s global heatmap data was found to reveal the location of a secret military base.

This week, Strava finally brought back a portion of its search feature to mobile users. Though users still can’t search other’s activities, they can now use the mobile Strava app to quickly look up past rides by name.

Search activities

Previously, finding an old ride on mobile was a major headache. There was no easy way to access an old ride other than scrolling through all previous activities until you finally landed on it.

Now, cyclists can search by keyword. They can also filter by sport type, distance, time, elevation, date range, and type (e.g. workout or race).

The feature gives users the ability to see how many activities of different types they’ve done based on certain filters they set, which is useful for those trying to get a better idea of their training during a certain time period.

There are two ways to access the activity search feature on iOS or Android. Either navigate to ‘Training’ then ‘Training Log’ and tap the magnifying glass, or go to your profile, click on ‘Activities’ and tap the magnifying glass to search.

The new search activities feature should be available to most Strava users by Wednesday, Feb. 10. The Strava app needs to be updated to the latest version, 189. If you’re not seeing the search function check in the App or Google Play store to see if you have the latest version of the app.