The obvious solution was to make the default "followers", this move is just another reduction in service quality. I don't really care about random people, but in races or with group training this was a useful tool... getting everyone to bother to activate is a non-starter.
Why have they just gone with an all or nothing preference setting? Surely a friends-only setting would have been useful?Essentially creating a personal club where selected users could see you. Not averse to the change, but a strange one by Strava to not include this.
I used flybys not to identify the other person out on the road but to see where they ride, am new to an area it gives a great way of finding out new routes and ways to get around. Maybe an "anonymous" setting so you can see routes of people out in the same area? Disappointed the feature has effectively been broken
This is the main way that I use Strava right now. I find lots of incredible mountain bike routes by seeing where other people rode around me and then looking at their routes. I pull their route into route planner, adjust the start and end points for myself and send to my Garmin device for my next ride. This is a great way to explore new parts of town that you didn't know existed. I don't really pay attention to the people's names when doing this, but it is my main reason for using (and paying) for Strava. Without it, I don't think I would subscribe. I honestly would be fine with anonymized data, since I don't really care who the people are (unless we are mutual followers/friends), I am just curious what routes they are taking so I can find new routes to ride myself. Granted all of this is for fitness/recreation reasons myself, because I am not a creeper. But I can easily see how it could be exploited by someone who is a creeper. Maybe the best solution is to have a "public persona" and a "private persona" on Strava. Many video game online networks have started to do this. You have a public screenname that might be "PedalMaster1988" that contains certain privacy-aware details about you. But for your friends and followers they actually see your name instead of your screenname. This allows you to provide the benefit of running across anonymous strangers because they show up as their screennames that are non-identifiable, but serve the purpose of anonymously sharing information. But if it is a mutual friend they could see greater detail including your name and other details. Another really fun use for FlyBys are with public races or events. I really enjoyed watching FlyBys after you get back from these multi-thousand person races.
@@kierenkd Likewise, have made a couple of friends from people who have given a "cyber wave" by way of kudos of encouragement on a cold damp day. Friends that will I not make in future with this change, its a shame
Same. I used the feature to find routes. Found a couple great road bike routes I would have never even considered if it weren’t for flyby as well as a MTB trail a couple miles from my house I never knew existed.
Flybys has always been an awesome tool for simply seeing who that was I just passed, to race analysis etc. I'm totally in shock that such a useful feature has been removed without notice or community input! So now that we are paying good money for the privilege of using Stravas many features...they decide to remove one of my favorites! I'm pissed!!!
This was my favorite use of FlyBy's! I really enjoyed watching FlyBys after you get back from these multi-thousand person races. You could see everyone swarming around the map, and see how many people passed you while you were waiting in line for the Porta Potties
I wish they offered a "Friends" option for this setting. Odd to me it is an "All or Nothing" option when they recognize the potential for abuse of personal info. The middle option makes sense to allow access to others you have already allowed to follow (either by full open access, or specific approval if you have the more controlled setting).
Hey Shane. I use to love FlyBys but that being said (story time) a few female cyclists I know have had to deal with several sketchy folks who flew by and then began trying to reach out across multiple social media platforms and even tried to find their house. I think the better privacy options are fantastic in this instance. The ability to have it set to people you follow only would be solid. Education is key regardless. Keep up the good work legend
Agreed. I didn't want to dive into the female stalking issue too much..... I'm not qualified on either side there.... but the reddit post I pointed out nailed it. Brilliant idea on followers only Flyby.
@@gplama yeah was a solid. Scary the first comment off the cab (even if it may have been a joke). But from your example mate. The Strava "private" area isn't that private. I usually turn my rides on far from home. Not into tin foil helmets but I'm fairly protective of my personal details etc (that being said you got my address lol)
@@TamLis Yeah. It was my first thought when I went through the privacy settings was how easy it would be to be creeped on on it. I live in NYC though and having dozens of the people I pass on any given weekend be able to see where I went or came from just seems like overexposure. Now I just manually enter everything in.
Not just females either, long story short, i had bad privacy settings (everything public). and someone that did not like me started to stalk me and figure out where i live and work. now i figured out of course how to turn this all off, but for some people it gets way to technical to have to turn off so many options.
Earlier this yr I noticed someone fly by me in a rally cycling kit in Phoenix AZ. After I found out who it was I realized I was inches from American pro Brandon McNulty who is 13th in the giro gc riding for Emirates
Strava is so inept as a "social" site. I've met a lot of good riding buddies via Flyby, but there was/is no way to connect with them other than to barge into their ride's comments section. I understand that ladies have it different, but to so thoroughly gut a generally useful feature is just one more reason I'll not be sending any more $$ Strava's way.
I think the opt in/out was a good privacy feature, it made perfect sense. What they should have done however, is put it in an announcement post in your feed and allow you to click a link or switch to turn back on. Another great option would add a fly by switch on each ride so when you are editing your title, you could turn your visibility on with a switch for a ride you didn't mind being transparent and leave it off for things like commutes, or rides that might be more questionable. I didn't use the feature a ton, but it was definitely cool in an area like mine in the Northeast of the US with smaller cycling communities.
Meh, for people who want it it can be on. There are fellow cyclists that i've had conversations with that i started following thanks to that feature. So why not
I returned someone's saddle bag (mobile and house keys inside) to them last year using Flyby, the woman, although grateful was a little shocked that I basically tracked her to her door, she had no idea that Flyby was even a thing. I never really thought about the negative side of it until I saw the WTF? look on her face. She couldn't have been creeped out though as she requested to follow the next day. Although maybe she just wanted to keep tabs on me in case she ever needed to make a police report LOL.
Totally understand why Strava have done this. But why no official announcement? Not even an e mail. Why do customers have to resort to sleuthing to find out about the changes? Piss poor customer service.
That is why I added a 0.1km segment in front of my house, then I can see every single person who comes by. Kidding, but really you could just do the same thing if you were curious. Make a tiny segment where you saw someone and look at "today".
Watched video then immediately opened Strava, there is a pop-up which alerts user that Flyby feature is disabled and gives link to change. Simples. Also, people are using Strava to stalk other people, especially women? Deary me, honestly guys get a freaking life.
If you account is public, 'evryone' by default. If your account is private/followers only, 'no-one' or an extra 'followers only'. How hard can it be...
I hope Strava can turn off notifications when you leave a comment and then 100 other people comment. It would also be great if you could add / edit gear on the mobile app.
Thanks for that video, didn't know about it yet. Hmm.. On the one hand it's absolutely understandable what Strava did, however it's really sad. Been using FlyBys a lot when I think I saw people I know a bit to check if it was really them. Now, it's pretty much over - unless people opt-in again (like I just did). I doubt the feature will ever be useful again if u miss 90%+ of the people anyway, no point in checking the FlyBys anymore at all. Sad.
@@robertcowling4313 What do you mean? In case you mean my comment is sad, I suggest to read my comment again (or at all). I pointed out that it‘s understandable what change Strava did because of the reasons given in GP Lama‘s video.
I consider flybys a feature I have paid for and the removal makes the app less useful. If Strava takes away features then they should discount the price. If there had been some discussion or changeover period those who want to continue using their flyby feature could have changed their settings and there would have been little interruption. I can understand if some find flybys invasive but I used it quite often as a post-ride review of my ride to better understand the performance and scope of the ride in relation to my compatriots out on the road. Although I found the bubbles representing riders too big and rather messy, it was a useful tool. Also, in the event that a rider did something dangerous flybys gave me an opportunity to reach them. Or, just the opposite, one can compliment another rider, find out about a bike or kit, etc etc. I hope that serious riders continue to use the feature. Big fail Strava.
I completely understand the concern and why Strava took the steps it did but I still disagree with it because flybys are so useful and interesting and fun. In my estimation, the usefulness and fun of flybys outweighs their potential harm. Using existing privacy control settings a Strava user could have prevented creepers from stalking. Being social, whether IRL or online, involves putting oneself out there and risking negative consequences, as well as reaping the positives. The utility/fun of Strava for me just decreased by 15%-20%. Not cool.
@Benjamin Dowling "In my estimation, the usefulness and fun of flybys outweighs their potential harm." Perhaps if you, or a loved one, were the person in the way of the 'potential harm' you might think differently about this nice-to-have software trinket.
The previous rules were ok I'd say since clicking on a Flyby activity for someone who was not using the "visible to all" setting for their activity it would show an error.
FlyBye!. I've used it in the past and it was always good fun to see the other people around me and to figure out where our paths crossed.. but I definitely did not use it after every ride and I don't think I'll really miss it.
Shane great video thanks.. Did you also notice that you can't edit the names of Created Segments. There is an issue also on Strava on that, might be worth understanding why?
Perhaps just add a flyby switch per ride, can share for group rides or races etc. but default restrict for others? I think a lot of people default to private and share some rides, but keep others, e.g., commutes, private.
I guess this is the issue with something like Strava as users we have no control over it. We take all the features for granted and at anytime they can just remove them :(
Yep, I even used this feature for Zwift racing. After the race 1 for the Premier Division for zwift racing league, I went to look at the flybys to see how the race played out - see the poor souls getting buried with desert flowers put on their graves (@Nick Velokicks). But flybys was gone! Now I know.
Bike thieves could be riding up to you knowing what you ride, watching where you live, and if their is an opportunity to break into your garage and steal your $13 k pinarello f12
Fly bys were past tense a great feature of the social network Network called Strava. I enjoyed looking at all the different riders on group rides slow fast at every one in between. Soon strava will lack the differentially from other apps. Sad to see erosion of kudos as hard to give kudos when you are all alone.
As other have said, it needs 2 new options, one to allow friends to see flybys and another to toggle it on to allow all people in a race to see all the others in the race if the activity was tagged as such. You should still be able to turn it off though even if the activity is set as a race.
I can think of 100 ways they could have implemented a better privacy setup while still keeping flybys operational. For starters, how about automatically 'hiding' the start and endpoint? or not linking the flybys to the actual profile of the individual? geez Starava
I think that it should be up to the users to make sure they set their privacy not to Strava. A few more thoughts 💭 from me... so if this move was to eliminate stockers going after women why did Strava killed it for men? Perhaps just block it just for girls? Another step will be to kill the leaderboards? You can trace the person from the leaderboard. On the same token sort leaderboard with QOM and then follow her ride. So Strava will you kill leaderboards now? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just set up privacy like 2,5,10,15km radius from your home and leave fun of flybys outside of these areas?
Why not make Flyby simply respect the privacy setting of each activity? The situation described in the tweet that went viral is obviously wrong, he shouldn’t have been able to see another user’s private activity details. However having Flyby active for each public activity make sense. I don’t understand why they disabled the feature for everyone, killing it effectively instead of fixing the privacy inconsistency.
The other annoying thing for me with Strava is the broken shared KOM feature. So you equal the time, Strava announce to everyone you got the KOM, you are joint No.1 on the leaderboard but it does not appear on your KOM's list. This is ludicrous as two riders on the same ride can equal a KOM at exactly the same moment but only the first to submit gets it.
Hm, this setting should be different when the activity type is set to "RACE". That's the feature I'll miss after this change, to see how the race was. If I'd want to find out who I saw during the ride I can do it without flyby too. If he/she is on a segment, then I have to narrow down a list of the day's results. Oh, they'll take away "today" option too from the leaderboards, next, eh? Why not remove segments altogether? If one is so careful with privacy, why publish anything on Strava? Keep everything private, and leave the rest of us with a usable system.
It's not bye-bye. I think they just had to make sure it was off for everyone unless you turned it on again. Just a privacy CYA move by strava. I turned mine back on as soon as I got the notification.
@@garyseven919 As soon as you open Strava there is a notification telling you about it. Perhaps people are leaving it off because they don't want strangers tracking them?
Very disappointed in this covert change. Flybys was my favorite feature. Unless everyone resets their settings, the Flyby feature is now useless. I feel like I am riding alone and have lost a sense of community with the other cyclists I pass on my rides. Strava needs to do a better job publicizing how to reset it.
I like the Flybys to rerun races and fast groupies to see others who drop and break aways that got away. Its sad to lose. have to consider paying premium.
If I had to list the top three features of why I even use Strava flybys would be in there. This change makes me want to reevaluate why I even subscribe to the service. Once again it’s an example of a few bad apples ruining the cool stuff for everyone else.
I thought it was broke until I found out Strava had changed my setting. Then a few days later they put the banner on the site informing me that they had done it. The setting is there when the account is set up so I did not think to check it. I used it to find alternative running routes that I can use when my regular ones get busy. If I was being cynical I would think that it was a ploy by Strava to make it useless so more people Subscribed so they can use the Heatmap facility.
No you should not put a security zone around your home as it is trivial to use geometry from a couple of rides to determine center of zone (your home). You should put two or three security zones of differing diameters each centered at least 100 meters from your home. Also realize mid ride security zones do nothing.
The same happened with relive it was awesome to see all people on video and then Strava kick out relive, Strava main goal was social and now is not social and not performance, I prefer training peaks.
I wish Strava would send an email to all users to tell them of the changes. Such a good feature and I am sure that most people will notice that it's was disabled last week. I understand why it was done though.
obviously, a ‘flyby follower’ option would be much appreciated... but also an ‘anonymous flyby’ could be a good one: I am more interested in finding new routes close to my every day loops than in who is actually the person riding them. some of you might remember ‘strava cluster’ which kinda did that but was shut down leaking gps workouts of us forces at their undisclosed bases back then
All I need is more settings to secure. I'm happy to see they are managing security settings for me. Really , who would want to know where a fancy bike ridden by someone with lots of electronics might live? and when they're home? Might want to pop by for a beer, and hate to miss a chance to meet up.
Thanks Damien. I put this together quickly tonight after seeing so many discussions about it, and being frustrated myself. I hope it'll save people from wondering where the option went.
I have noticed a flaw in stravas privacy settings. If someone has their account set to private, normally you can't see any of their activities. But If you goto a segment leaderboard and set the filter for "today" If the person with the private profile has done the segment that day they show up, and if you click on the person it will show you their activity for that day.
Not a flaw, this is by design. There is no "Private" account setting on Strava. There's a "Follower only" profile setting but this, as you describe, still puts you on leaderboards unless you set Activities to "Only You".
@@gplama I see, so a misunderstanding from me as to how this works... I noticed no flyby on my strava yesterday, and today you have a video explaining it. I appreciate the content you provide!
I turned that privacy setting back on for my strava account. I liked the flyby feature and it seems a little paranoid to worry about something like this.
This was another thought that I had. Maybe there should be a third privacy setting that says "Everyone", "No One", or "Public for Races". So if you set the activity to a Race then it would show up. This is a fairly safe environment to do FlyBys since everyone is already running/riding together, everyone has the same start/end locations, personal home locations can't be exploited, etc.. Plus it is a ton of fun to watch FlyBys after a race.
Shane, I've got a really odd problem with my strava account and wondered what you think about it, my strava will not let me add heart rate data to any of my activities. I've looked through all of the settings on strava and also on garmin connect but nothing seems to be hinting towards me disabling HR data. What can i do?
On the Strava app, in Profile - Settings, there's Data Permissions. That gives you an option to alter Health Related Data sharing with Strava. Maybe you've declined access?
i put up the smallest "privacy zone" around my house and lost a bunch of KOMs. took the privacy zone away and the KOMs did not come back. is this fixable?
I’m grateful this feature is gone! Since many of my routes on strava start/stop from very close to my house, I hated knowing someone I run past miles away could essentially virtually follow me home. However, now my strava has a security zone and is fully private.
@@aacc8466 yes, although some people don’t realise if you go home then go out again (10 min later, next day..) without stopping the ride it shows exactly where you paused. The privacy zone has to be an endpoint to be obscured.
could they at least let you see other people you follow, or maybe other people who are in the same Strava club as you? that would still be interesting to dissect group rides you do with your friends/club members after the fact.
@@strandedpaki True or, as has been mentioned my many folk, have a 'visible to friends/followers' setting. Hopefully those people will also send their suggestions to Strava....
Why didn't Strava just turn Flybys off for all females? I haven't heard of any men reporting being stalked. Also males account for almost 80% of Strava activities, so Flybys would still be somewhat alive
Another thing this change seems to have introduced is that my weekly mileage totals are zeroed out, despite the fact that I have indeed ridden two days this week so far. Law on unintended consequences, or did they change the privacy settings on this as well?
I have disabled it at once when I registerd on Strava. The only thing I could complain about, would be that Strava did not set a safe default value earlier.
People complain about this somehow inconveniencing them, not carrying at all about people with bad faith using it to track somebody’s home location or learning their daily path. Btw, you should opt-in to privacy leaking features, not opt-out.
The discussion isn't that people are dismissing privacy at all. It was about using this to learn other routes, maybe find a local bunch ride or running group. There were some really positive uses for Flybys. Not everyone is evil, although some of the accusations I've had sent my way over Twitter for simply discussing this feature change are truly absurd. Either way, this feature is effectively gone. People with 'bad faith' will resort to other means, as they did prior to this change.
Of course Reddit knights will say it's for the women. I thought women were equal to men? Anyway, with the "woman is alone jogging" argument, you know who else know's you're jogging? Everyone who lives near you. Everyone else who see's you jogging alone who drives/rides/runs/walks by you.
I forgot this "feature" still existed. But good riddance, and a good reminder to know more about who companies are sharing our personal information with.
re-activated mine yesterday 14/10/20 👍👍
The obvious solution was to make the default "followers", this move is just another reduction in service quality. I don't really care about random people, but in races or with group training this was a useful tool... getting everyone to bother to activate is a non-starter.
Why have they just gone with an all or nothing preference setting? Surely a friends-only setting would have been useful?Essentially creating a personal club where selected users could see you. Not averse to the change, but a strange one by Strava to not include this.
I used flybys not to identify the other person out on the road but to see where they ride, am new to an area it gives a great way of finding out new routes and ways to get around. Maybe an "anonymous" setting so you can see routes of people out in the same area? Disappointed the feature has effectively been broken
This is the main way that I use Strava right now. I find lots of incredible mountain bike routes by seeing where other people rode around me and then looking at their routes. I pull their route into route planner, adjust the start and end points for myself and send to my Garmin device for my next ride. This is a great way to explore new parts of town that you didn't know existed. I don't really pay attention to the people's names when doing this, but it is my main reason for using (and paying) for Strava. Without it, I don't think I would subscribe. I honestly would be fine with anonymized data, since I don't really care who the people are (unless we are mutual followers/friends), I am just curious what routes they are taking so I can find new routes to ride myself. Granted all of this is for fitness/recreation reasons myself, because I am not a creeper. But I can easily see how it could be exploited by someone who is a creeper.
Maybe the best solution is to have a "public persona" and a "private persona" on Strava. Many video game online networks have started to do this. You have a public screenname that might be "PedalMaster1988" that contains certain privacy-aware details about you. But for your friends and followers they actually see your name instead of your screenname. This allows you to provide the benefit of running across anonymous strangers because they show up as their screennames that are non-identifiable, but serve the purpose of anonymously sharing information. But if it is a mutual friend they could see greater detail including your name and other details.
Another really fun use for FlyBys are with public races or events. I really enjoyed watching FlyBys after you get back from these multi-thousand person races.
Exactly this. I follow people on Strava for one simple reason, find new routes.
100% agree. Although I do throw a kudos to other runners that cross my path if we've been battling grim elements, like a storm.
@@kierenkd Likewise, have made a couple of friends from people who have given a "cyber wave" by way of kudos of encouragement on a cold damp day. Friends that will I not make in future with this change, its a shame
Same. I used the feature to find routes. Found a couple great road bike routes I would have never even considered if it weren’t for flyby as well as a MTB trail a couple miles from my house I never knew existed.
Flybys has always been an awesome tool for simply seeing who that was I just passed, to race analysis etc. I'm totally in shock that such a useful feature has been removed without notice or community input! So now that we are paying good money for the privilege of using Stravas many features...they decide to remove one of my favorites! I'm pissed!!!
I will definitely miss the ability to analyse a race with flyby !
This was my favorite use of FlyBy's! I really enjoyed watching FlyBys after you get back from these multi-thousand person races. You could see everyone swarming around the map, and see how many people passed you while you were waiting in line for the Porta Potties
It was a killer feature for races. No point for Strava now, I'll just stick with Garmin & keep Strava as a backup
I wish they offered a "Friends" option for this setting. Odd to me it is an "All or Nothing" option when they recognize the potential for abuse of personal info. The middle option makes sense to allow access to others you have already allowed to follow (either by full open access, or specific approval if you have the more controlled setting).
I loved using it to find out new routes of others in the area. Such a shame.
Turned mine back on as I am new to cycling I dont mind people adding me as I may meet some people to ride with.
Hey Shane.
I use to love FlyBys but that being said (story time) a few female cyclists I know have had to deal with several sketchy folks who flew by and then began trying to reach out across multiple social media platforms and even tried to find their house.
I think the better privacy options are fantastic in this instance. The ability to have it set to people you follow only would be solid. Education is key regardless.
Keep up the good work legend
Agreed. I didn't want to dive into the female stalking issue too much..... I'm not qualified on either side there.... but the reddit post I pointed out nailed it. Brilliant idea on followers only Flyby.
@@gplama yeah was a solid. Scary the first comment off the cab (even if it may have been a joke). But from your example mate. The Strava "private" area isn't that private. I usually turn my rides on far from home. Not into tin foil helmets but I'm fairly protective of my personal details etc (that being said you got my address lol)
@@TamLis Yeah. It was my first thought when I went through the privacy settings was how easy it would be to be creeped on on it. I live in NYC though and having dozens of the people I pass on any given weekend be able to see where I went or came from just seems like overexposure. Now I just manually enter everything in.
Not just females either, long story short, i had bad privacy settings (everything public).
and someone that did not like me started to stalk me and figure out where i live and work.
now i figured out of course how to turn this all off, but for some people it gets way to technical to have to turn off so many options.
@@geraldfisher6475 that’s why privacy experts have been saying for years it should be opt in, not opt out. I’m sorry that happened to you
Earlier this yr I noticed someone fly by me in a rally cycling kit in Phoenix AZ. After I found out who it was I realized I was inches from American pro Brandon McNulty who is 13th in the giro gc riding for Emirates
Strava is so inept as a "social" site. I've met a lot of good riding buddies via Flyby, but there was/is no way to connect with them other than to barge into their ride's comments section. I understand that ladies have it different, but to so thoroughly gut a generally useful feature is just one more reason I'll not be sending any more $$ Strava's way.
I think the opt in/out was a good privacy feature, it made perfect sense. What they should have done however, is put it in an announcement post in your feed and allow you to click a link or switch to turn back on. Another great option would add a fly by switch on each ride so when you are editing your title, you could turn your visibility on with a switch for a ride you didn't mind being transparent and leave it off for things like commutes, or rides that might be more questionable. I didn't use the feature a ton, but it was definitely cool in an area like mine in the Northeast of the US with smaller cycling communities.
Meh, for people who want it it can be on.
There are fellow cyclists that i've had conversations with that i started following thanks to that feature. So why not
also killed my Covid year fun of giving kudos to every one of my flybys after every ride
Everyone just turn it on, problem solved!
I returned someone's saddle bag (mobile and house keys inside) to them last year using Flyby, the woman, although grateful was a little shocked that I basically tracked her to her door, she had no idea that Flyby was even a thing. I never really thought about the negative side of it until I saw the WTF? look on her face. She couldn't have been creeped out though as she requested to follow the next day. Although maybe she just wanted to keep tabs on me in case she ever needed to make a police report LOL.
Thanks for the info, I was wondering what happened. I have met a lot of people I follow on the flyby.
Totally understand why Strava have done this. But why no official announcement? Not even an e mail.
Why do customers have to resort to sleuthing to find out about the changes?
Piss poor customer service.
There has been a notification in your feed for the last couple of days about it.
There was no notification whatsoever on Tuesday, the day the change was made.
That is why I added a 0.1km segment in front of my house, then I can see every single person who comes by. Kidding, but really you could just do the same thing if you were curious. Make a tiny segment where you saw someone and look at "today".
Also possible to fake GPS data/location/time at any point on earth and swipe Flyby data that way too. There's a few interesting ways to exploit this.
Watched video then immediately opened Strava, there is a pop-up which alerts user that Flyby feature is disabled and gives link to change. Simples.
Also, people are using Strava to stalk other people, especially women? Deary me, honestly guys get a freaking life.
It is truly amazing how one can hate a company so bad, - yet still love them or should I say continue to be a slave of their platform 🤔
If you account is public, 'evryone' by default. If your account is private/followers only, 'no-one' or an extra 'followers only'. How hard can it be...
I'm about done with Strava. Endless unsolicited follow requests. Minimal value -- won't even do basic analysis on my own previous data.
I hope Strava can turn off notifications when you leave a comment and then 100 other people comment.
It would also be great if you could add / edit gear on the mobile app.
Man, I loved checking how my mates compared on big Gran Fondos etc. Sucks. :(
Thanks for that video, didn't know about it yet.
Hmm.. On the one hand it's absolutely understandable what Strava did, however it's really sad. Been using FlyBys a lot when I think I saw people I know a bit to check if it was really them. Now, it's pretty much over - unless people opt-in again (like I just did). I doubt the feature will ever be useful again if u miss 90%+ of the people anyway, no point in checking the FlyBys anymore at all. Sad.
@@robertcowling4313 What do you mean? In case you mean my comment is sad, I suggest to read my comment again (or at all). I pointed out that it‘s understandable what change Strava did because of the reasons given in GP Lama‘s video.
Oh no, I recently used FlyBy to be sure I really did see a RUclips celebrity on the road.
I consider flybys a feature I have paid for and the removal makes the app less useful. If Strava takes away features then they should discount the price. If there had been some discussion or changeover period those who want to continue using their flyby feature could have changed their settings and there would have been little interruption. I can understand if some find flybys invasive but I used it quite often as a post-ride review of my ride to better understand the performance and scope of the ride in relation to my compatriots out on the road. Although I found the bubbles representing riders too big and rather messy, it was a useful tool. Also, in the event that a rider did something dangerous flybys gave me an opportunity to reach them. Or, just the opposite, one can compliment another rider, find out about a bike or kit, etc etc. I hope that serious riders continue to use the feature. Big fail Strava.
I completely understand the concern and why Strava took the steps it did but I still disagree with it because flybys are so useful and interesting and fun. In my estimation, the usefulness and fun of flybys outweighs their potential harm. Using existing privacy control settings a Strava user could have prevented creepers from stalking. Being social, whether IRL or online, involves putting oneself out there and risking negative consequences, as well as reaping the positives. The utility/fun of Strava for me just decreased by 15%-20%. Not cool.
@Benjamin Dowling "In my estimation, the usefulness and fun of flybys outweighs their potential harm."
Perhaps if you, or a loved one, were the person in the way of the 'potential harm' you might think differently about this nice-to-have software trinket.
The previous rules were ok I'd say since clicking on a Flyby activity for someone who was not using the "visible to all" setting for their activity it would show an error.
FlyBye!. I've used it in the past and it was always good fun to see the other people around me and to figure out where our paths crossed.. but I definitely did not use it after every ride and I don't think I'll really miss it.
I always snoop mine to see where other people are riding. I want to know if they know better roads than I do! :)
@@gplama Strava global heatmap?
20 Million people in my city and I feel lonely now ;)
I am using Strava less and less lately
It helped me make a few friends, sad to see it go
I liked investigating how my real world crit races went once I was dropped 🤔
Shane great video thanks.. Did you also notice that you can't edit the names of Created Segments. There is an issue also on Strava on that, might be worth understanding why?
Perhaps just add a flyby switch per ride, can share for group rides or races etc. but default restrict for others?
I think a lot of people default to private and share some rides, but keep others, e.g., commutes, private.
I guess this is the issue with something like Strava as users we have no control over it. We take all the features for granted and at anytime they can just remove them :(
Worse than that - www.reddit.com/r/Strava/comments/jb0uuj/strava_has_deleted_all_ride_pictures_5_years_old/?context=3
Yep, I even used this feature for Zwift racing. After the race 1 for the Premier Division for zwift racing league, I went to look at the flybys to see how the race played out - see the poor souls getting buried with desert flowers put on their graves (@Nick Velokicks).
But flybys was gone! Now I know.
Bike thieves could be riding up to you knowing what you ride, watching where you live, and if their is an opportunity to break into your garage and steal your $13 k pinarello f12
Or fix you squeeky chain. No, may not.
Probably want to pop by for a beer, and hate to miss a chance to meet up.
@Nick Maclachlan Garmin offered me a discount coupon if I put a chip in my neck. Whatcha think I should do?
Fly bys were past tense a great feature of the social network Network called Strava. I enjoyed looking at all the different riders on group rides slow fast at every one in between. Soon strava will lack the differentially from other apps. Sad to see erosion of kudos as hard to give kudos when you are all alone.
That tombstone was hilarious!
As other have said, it needs 2 new options, one to allow friends to see flybys and another to toggle it on to allow all people in a race to see all the others in the race if the activity was tagged as such. You should still be able to turn it off though even if the activity is set as a race.
I'm not a competitive cyclist but FlyBuys to me give me a feeling that I am part of a community of cyclist out there on my road map adventure.
I can think of 100 ways they could have implemented a better privacy setup while still keeping flybys operational.
For starters, how about automatically 'hiding' the start and endpoint? or not linking the flybys to the actual profile of the individual? geez Starava
I think that it should be up to the users to make sure they set their privacy not to Strava. A few more thoughts 💭 from me... so if this move was to eliminate stockers going after women why did Strava killed it for men? Perhaps just block it just for girls? Another step will be to kill the leaderboards? You can trace the person from the leaderboard. On the same token sort leaderboard with QOM and then follow her ride. So Strava will you kill leaderboards now? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just set up privacy like 2,5,10,15km radius from your home and leave fun of flybys outside of these areas?
Why not make Flyby simply respect the privacy setting of each activity?
The situation described in the tweet that went viral is obviously wrong, he shouldn’t have been able to see another user’s private activity details.
However having Flyby active for each public activity make sense.
I don’t understand why they disabled the feature for everyone, killing it effectively instead of fixing the privacy inconsistency.
I have revoked my subscription to STRAVA as a protest
The other annoying thing for me with Strava is the broken shared KOM feature. So you equal the time, Strava announce to everyone you got the KOM, you are joint No.1 on the leaderboard but it does not appear on your KOM's list. This is ludicrous as two riders on the same ride can equal a KOM at exactly the same moment but only the first to submit gets it.
If there’s an awareness campaign to turn this feature back on wouldn’t we have it back? Or did I miss something else that has changed?
Hm, this setting should be different when the activity type is set to "RACE". That's the feature I'll miss after this change, to see how the race was.
If I'd want to find out who I saw during the ride I can do it without flyby too. If he/she is on a segment, then I have to narrow down a list of the day's results. Oh, they'll take away "today" option too from the leaderboards, next, eh?
Why not remove segments altogether?
If one is so careful with privacy, why publish anything on Strava? Keep everything private, and leave the rest of us with a usable system.
True, you shouldn't be able to follow people home from race recordings; so no safety concerns there.
It's not bye-bye. I think they just had to make sure it was off for everyone unless you turned it on again. Just a privacy CYA move by strava. I turned mine back on as soon as I got the notification.
Unfortunately, so far it is not being publicized very well by Strava. Usually, I see 20 or 30 people on my Flybys. Today, zero on my Flybys.
@@garyseven919 As soon as you open Strava there is a notification telling you about it. Perhaps people are leaving it off because they don't want strangers tracking them?
Very disappointed in this covert change. Flybys was my favorite feature. Unless everyone resets their settings, the Flyby feature is now useless. I feel like I am riding alone and have lost a sense of community with the other cyclists I pass on my rides. Strava needs to do a better job publicizing how to reset it.
I like the Flybys to rerun races and fast groupies to see others who drop and break aways that got away. Its sad to lose. have to consider paying premium.
If I had to list the top three features of why I even use Strava flybys would be in there. This change makes me want to reevaluate why I even subscribe to the service. Once again it’s an example of a few bad apples ruining the cool stuff for everyone else.
flyby was great to find new trails. it's a shame that it's gone
Great analysis, as always! You’re the best, Shane!
I thought it was broke until I found out Strava had changed my setting. Then a few days later they put the banner on the site informing me that they had done it. The setting is there when the account is set up so I did not think to check it.
I used it to find alternative running routes that I can use when my regular ones get busy.
If I was being cynical I would think that it was a ploy by Strava to make it useless so more people Subscribed so they can use the Heatmap facility.
No you should not put a security zone around your home as it is trivial to use geometry from a couple of rides to determine center of zone (your home). You should put two or three security zones of differing diameters each centered at least 100 meters from your home. Also realize mid ride security zones do nothing.
The same happened with relive it was awesome to see all people on video and then Strava kick out relive, Strava main goal was social and now is not social and not performance, I prefer training peaks.
Strava, if your concerned about privacy you can opt out. Why isnt that enough?
I wish Strava would send an email to all users to tell them of the changes. Such a good feature and I am sure that most people will notice that it's was disabled last week. I understand why it was done though.
I fail to see the problem tbh since you can very easily set a private zone and you dont have to use your real name
its literally a non problem
Shock horror! Strava finally introduce a feature which isn't just for premium members 😉
This feature has existed for over 5 years.
Thanks for the heads up
obviously, a ‘flyby follower’ option would be much appreciated... but also an ‘anonymous flyby’ could be a good one: I am more interested in finding new routes close to my every day loops than in who is actually the person riding them.
some of you might remember ‘strava cluster’ which kinda did that but was shut down leaking gps workouts of us forces at their undisclosed bases back then
hey shane are you doing any more podcasts with Ray ?
Not at this point in time, no.
Flyby is really one of the best services Strava has... Need it!
*Was. :(
@@gplama :'-(
No entendí un carajo, alguien me puede explicar que pasó con flybys??
I explain it here. In full.
Noticed the same thing, thanks for the video and details about this feature. Enjoy your channel and videos!
Is there something wrong with following random people on Strava??
All I need is more settings to secure. I'm happy to see they are managing security settings for me.
Really , who would want to know where a fancy bike ridden by someone with lots of electronics might live?
and when they're home? Might want to pop by for a beer, and hate to miss a chance to meet up.
I like the idea for the pop-up! Hopefully they implement this and resurrect flybys!
Wow thanks. I was trying yesterday to use Flyby's.
It is unfortunate humans will always litigate the great features out of everything.
It’s always great to learn about a feature that you never knew existed until it has been killed off.
I liked the Fly-By feature to see where others were riding. I found a lot of fun new routes that way.
Good video. Well articulated.
Thanks Damien. I put this together quickly tonight after seeing so many discussions about it, and being frustrated myself. I hope it'll save people from wondering where the option went.
I have noticed a flaw in stravas privacy settings. If someone has their account set to private, normally you can't see any of their activities. But If you goto a segment leaderboard and set the filter for "today" If the person with the private profile has done the segment that day they show up, and if you click on the person it will show you their activity for that day.
Not a flaw, this is by design. There is no "Private" account setting on Strava. There's a "Follower only" profile setting but this, as you describe, still puts you on leaderboards unless you set Activities to "Only You".
@@gplama I see, so a misunderstanding from me as to how this works... I noticed no flyby on my strava yesterday, and today you have a video explaining it. I appreciate the content you provide!
is there FlyBy feature inside Garmin Connect?
No
@@gplama :( so, I can console myself that Strava is leaving the Flyby.. lol
I turned that privacy setting back on for my strava account. I liked the flyby feature and it seems a little paranoid to worry about something like this.
Should only be a feature if athletes set their activity as a race.
This was another thought that I had. Maybe there should be a third privacy setting that says "Everyone", "No One", or "Public for Races". So if you set the activity to a Race then it would show up. This is a fairly safe environment to do FlyBys since everyone is already running/riding together, everyone has the same start/end locations, personal home locations can't be exploited, etc.. Plus it is a ton of fun to watch FlyBys after a race.
Shane, I've got a really odd problem with my strava account and wondered what you think about it, my strava will not let me add heart rate data to any of my activities. I've looked through all of the settings on strava and also on garmin connect but nothing seems to be hinting towards me disabling HR data. What can i do?
On the Strava app, in Profile - Settings, there's Data Permissions.
That gives you an option to alter Health Related Data sharing with Strava.
Maybe you've declined access?
@@inspiredtotired8369 I’ve looked and it’s not that.
i put up the smallest "privacy zone" around my house and lost a bunch of KOMs. took the privacy zone away and the KOMs did not come back. is this fixable?
ride hard again :-)
Each activity has an option to refresh segment achievements. You’d have to find the activity that you did well on and hit that button.
@@BenBrawn didn't work.
I’m grateful this feature is gone! Since many of my routes on strava start/stop from very close to my house, I hated knowing someone I run past miles away could essentially virtually follow me home. However, now my strava has a security zone and is fully private.
That security zone has been in place for years! But I agree Strava should walk you through with security details about Strava
@@aacc8466 yes, although some people don’t realise if you go home then go out again (10 min later, next day..) without stopping the ride it shows exactly where you paused. The privacy zone has to be an endpoint to be obscured.
Oh, and geotagged photos still show up in the privacy zone before, during or after an activity
could they at least let you see other people you follow, or maybe other people who are in the same Strava club as you? that would still be interesting to dissect group rides you do with your friends/club members after the fact.
You can see them if they turn public visibility back on again, nothing's disappeared.
But what would be nicer would be an intermediate setting where members of a club could turn on visibility only to other club members.
@@strandedpaki True or, as has been mentioned my many folk, have a 'visible to friends/followers' setting. Hopefully those people will also send their suggestions to Strava....
This feature was specially concerning on high density places like NYC.
Why didn't Strava just turn Flybys off for all females? I haven't heard of any men reporting being stalked. Also males account for almost 80% of Strava activities, so Flybys would still be somewhat alive
How do you think that would have played out, had the they disabled a feature for one gender.....
This is a sad day indeed. How am I supposed to stalk people I don't know now? 🤷♂️
oh thats a free ticket for all E-bikers going for Strava KOMS--- its even harder now to get them...
Another thing this change seems to have introduced is that my weekly mileage totals are zeroed out, despite the fact that I have indeed ridden two days this week so far. Law on unintended consequences, or did they change the privacy settings on this as well?
I have disabled it at once when I registerd on Strava. The only thing I could complain about, would be that Strava did not set a safe default value earlier.
People complain about this somehow inconveniencing them, not carrying at all about people with bad faith using it to track somebody’s home location or learning their daily path.
Btw, you should opt-in to privacy leaking features, not opt-out.
The discussion isn't that people are dismissing privacy at all. It was about using this to learn other routes, maybe find a local bunch ride or running group. There were some really positive uses for Flybys. Not everyone is evil, although some of the accusations I've had sent my way over Twitter for simply discussing this feature change are truly absurd. Either way, this feature is effectively gone. People with 'bad faith' will resort to other means, as they did prior to this change.
Of course Reddit knights will say it's for the women. I thought women were equal to men? Anyway, with the "woman is alone jogging" argument, you know who else know's you're jogging? Everyone who lives near you. Everyone else who see's you jogging alone who drives/rides/runs/walks by you.
And get your path, schedule and address?
@@whazzat8015 just like anyone else who can ride around and see that?
@@whazzat8015 So are you saying women aren't as capable as men?
@@Silidons91 No, but they get victimized and bullied and may prefer not to.
@@whazzat8015 then why didn't they turn it off themselves?
I forgot this "feature" still existed. But good riddance, and a good reminder to know more about who companies are sharing our personal information with.