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Strava users, in midst of privacy problems, are reporting that one of the app’s top features has been disabled

Strava users, in midst of privacy problems, are reporting that one of the app’s top features has been disabled

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Scrambling to sort out privacy

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A week after the fitness app Strava came under fire for exposing sensitive military locations through heat maps, some Strava users are complaining that one of the app’s popular features has been temporarily disabled.

The app’s Segments feature, a popular tool that lets outdoor fitness enthusiasts create public segments of their workouts that others can search for and compete against, appears to be working intermittently. According to users on Reddit, trying to create a new workout segment in the app leads them back to Strava’s main dashboard, rather than allowing them to create the segment.

One user said they submitted a ticket to Strava’s customer support, and was told that the company was reviewing certain features to “ensure they cannot be compromised by people with bad intent,” a re-hash of a larger statement that the company offered to users last week. Other users in the same thread say that well-known local segments are no longer showing up on maps.

Strava appears to be disabling some segments, a top feature of the app, while it reevaluates privacy

Strava’s own support page around creating segments also shows more than a dozen comments from users who have been unable to create segments (with newer complaints appearing towards the bottom of the thread).

Still other Strava users, though, say that this segment creation tool is working just fine for them. An attempt by The Verge to create a Strava workout segment, in Las Vegas, also worked immediately.

The Verge emailed Strava seeking clarification on this issue, but Strava had not offered an explanation at the time of publication. Update: Strava has since responded, saying again that “We are reviewing features that were originally designed for athlete motivation and inspiration to ensure they cannot be compromised by people with bad intent.” This is the same statement the company issued earlier.

The recent scattered complaints about disabled segments are surfacing just after Strava has come under scrutiny around why its heat maps feature, which was launched as a part of Strava Labs in 2014, has been exposing the location of US and overseas military bases. A member of the Institute for United Conflict Analysis first pointed out on Twitter that the US bases are “clearly identifiable and mappable.”

Strava CEO James Quarles wrote a statement on the company’s website last week saying that the company is “committed to working with military and government officials to address potentially sensitive data” and that it is reviewing features that could compromise people’s privacy.

Some have defended the company, which is based in San Francisco and is privately held, by pointing out that by downloading Strava, users are consenting to use a GPS-based app. There’s also the option within the app to make workouts private.

However, the controls within the app can be confusing. The Strava heat maps debacle is seen by others as another prime example of a fast-and-loose approach to privacy in Silicon Valley, in which growing user bases and monetizing products supersedes the rights of the end user. Quarles said in the same statement that Strava is continuing to increase awareness of the company’s privacy and safety tools, which again, puts the onus on the users to understand and use them.

Last Wednesday, congressional Democrats demanded answers from Strava as to why it published the heat maps, what kind of data it collects, and what privacy protections are in place.

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to include Strava’s comments.