Fitness app Strava is suing watch-maker Garmin

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 09, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

If you didn't track your pace on Garmin and upload it to Strava, did you even really run?

With fall race season at its peak, a number of athletes are stressing over news that fitness tech leaders Strava and Garmin are at odds in a U.S. lawsuit, with Strava suing Garmin over patent infringement and breach of conduct.

Specifically, some people are worried it could impact the user experience for the millions of people who wear Garmin's smart watches and use Strava's fitness-tracking app. On TikTok, a slew of runners have posted videos lamenting the timing of the suit, because several major running events are coming up, including the Chicago and New York City marathons.

In an official statement posted to Reddit on Oct. 2, Strava’s chief product officer Matt Salazar alleged that Garmin has threatened to cut off access to their software interface, which would mean activities tracked using Garmin devices couldn't be uploaded to Strava, unless Strava complies with Garmin's new developer guidelines.

And as any tech-wearing athlete pushing themselves to the absolute limit just to get a "Local Legend" wreath or a personal record will likely attest: if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen.

"Guess it's time to give up running," joked U.K. runner Florence Thwaites on TikTok after news of the lawsuit surfaced.

"Have you see the news that Mom and Dad are fighting?" asked California ultra-runner Andy Glaze in a TikTok video with more than 1.1 million views. "I'm sitting here with my thousand-dollar watch and my $80 app and thinking, can we just get a family meeting and start getting along again?"

Susan Ibach, 55, a runner in Ottawa's rural Manotick community, told CBC News she's seen a lot of chatter about the lawsuit. Ibach has completed dozens of marathons, including last summer's Paris 2024 Marathon Pour Tous, and she trains often.

Like many others, she uses Garmin devices and Strava, but says that might change if things "turn really nasty" with the lawsuit.

"I do hope when the dust settles that Garmin devices can still sync to Strava," Ibach said.

CBC News has reached out to both Strava and Garmin for comment. Garmin said it doesn't comment on pending litigation. Strava has yet to respond.

But here's what we know about the lawsuit, and why it matters.

A runner wearing a Garmin smart watch stretches before a workout in Cambridge, Mass., in July 2020. Garmin has been accused of patent infringement by fitness-tracking app Strava in a new lawsuit. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Strava vs. Garmin

Strava's popular fitness-tracking app combines social networking features and allows users to log GPS-based activities such as running, cycling or swimming, analyze performance, and compete.

You can track your distance, speed and route, among other features, and either record them directly through the app or through a third-party device — like a Garmin watch. The U.S.-based app has more than 170 million users worldwide, according to Strava's court filing.

Wearable device-maker Garmin, also a U.S. company, specializes in GPS-based products and is known for its flagship smartwatches. They have a variety of features that make them popular with runners, including a range of metrics, GPS tracking and training plans.

Garmin also has its own platform and app, Garmin Connect, and allows users to sync their activities to automatically show up in Strava. Garmin sold 18.6 million units in 2024, according to its last annual report, and marked a 32 per cent year-over-year increase in revenue for its fitness devices "led by strong demand for wearables."

So, what's the issue?

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 30 in a Colorado district court, alleges that two of Garmin's features —segments and heatmaps — infringe on Strava's own patents and violate a written agreement between the two companies.

Segments are user-defined stretches of road or trail that let people compare their performances along the same route. Heatmaps are visual depictions aggregating billions of activities to show where people run, ride, or hike most frequently, the court documents explain.

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Strava provided written notice of infringement and breach in June and July 2025, the company said in the court documents.

"Nevertheless, Garmin continued to use Strava’s technology in ways that Strava has never authorized or licensed," they alleged.

How could this affect users?

This could impact people in a few ways. First, Strava isn't just seeking damages — the company wants to prohibit the sales of Garmin devices that use what they allege is the infringing technology and patents.

Ibach, in Ottawa, says that part doesn't worry her. "It’s hard to imagine that Strava could force Garmin to stop selling running watches," she said.

Tech news site TechRadar reports there's also concern that Garmin will be forced to remove features from its watches, and points out Apple had to do the same in 2023 when the International Trade Commission ruled that the Apple Watch's blood oxygen monitor violated a patent from digital health company Masimo. 

But there's another issue. Strava's Salazar alleges that Garmin has threatened to cut off access to its software interface, which means Garmin activities couldn't be uploaded to Strava, unless Strava complies with Garmin's new developer guidelines.

The guidelines require the Garmin logo to be present on every single activity post, screen, graph, and image, Salazar wrote on Reddit, noting that the company was told it has until Nov. 1 to comply.

"Unfortunately, we could not justify to our users complying with the new guidelines," he wrote. "As such, we have tried to resolve this situation with Garmin over the course of the past five months, including proposing additional attribution across the platform in a less intrusive way, but to no avail."

Susan Ibach, 55, of Manotick, Ont., has been running her whole life. She uses Garmin devices and Strava. (Submitted by Susan Ibach)

And that's what worries Ibach.

"I’ve always worn Garmin devices, but when I want to look up workouts, and my training history, I do all of that on Strava. So maybe my next watch would be a Suunto," she said.

But even switching smartwatch brands is no guarantee.

Suunto, a Finnish brand of smartwatch, has launched its own lawsuit against Garmin for patent infringement. The lawsuit was filed in Texas federal court on Sept. 22., and accuses Garmin of five patent infringements related to golf swing technology, respiratory rate and smartwatch hardware.