Summary
- Strava bought Runna, known for its personalized running plans, enhancing training capabilities.
- Strava + Runna = Two popular fitness apps join forces, potentially impacting competitors like Garmin.
- Although integration will occur gradually, benefits include a smoother experience and possibly a higher subscription cost.
Strava, the fitness tracking and social platform, just made a move that could seriously upgrade your running and training. The company has acquired Runna, an immensely popular app known for its personalized running plans.
If you’re a Strava user like me, you’ve probably noticed something missing in Strava’s offerings: training plans. It’s great for tracking purposes and swapping encouragement with friends, but when it comes to actually planning your next 5K or marathon, you’ve had to look elsewhere. Runna, which exploded onto the scene in 2021, was that solution for many people. It offers AI-powered coaching and plans for all sorts of distances.
Currently, Strava sits at #13 in the Health & Fitness section of the Apple App Store–Runna is at #26. That’s two very highly used apps joining forces, and it should put competitors such as Garmin on notice. This is a major play for Strava to own a significant chunk of the running community.
It’s also a win/win for both platforms. Strava gets to offer something that’s been notably missing, and Runna gains access to Strava’s huge community and resources. As Strava CEO Michael Martin put it, the previous static, document-based plans were rarely used, and the lack of proper guidance was a real pain point for runners.
Don’t expect to see immediate changes, though. For now, both apps will continue to operate independently. Martin emphasized that the initial plan is to invest in growing the Runna app and its team. The goal is an “integrated fashion,” which means you’ll eventually see a smoother experience between the two platforms. Unsurprisingly, they currently function as separate entities. You go to Runna to see your daily workout, then hop over to Strava to find a route, and back to Runna for live coaching. The aim is to make this flow much easier.
One of the big questions, of course, is how subscriptions will work. Currently, Strava’s premium features cost $79.99 annually, while Runna comes in at $119.99 per year. For now, if you want the full experience of both, you’ll need to pay for both. Martin drew a comparison to Strava’s past acquisitions, suggesting the Runna integration might be more like Recover Athletics (a free perk for subscribers as a separate app) than FATMAP (which was shut down and merged into Strava).
Generally speaking, we know from mountains of past evidence that things almost always eventually change when these acquisitions happen. CEO’s assure customers that “nothing will change,” but that never remains true for long. Strava increased its prices in 2023 to much chagrin, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it does so again in the future to account for Runna.
Ultimately, this acquisition has the potential to be a significant upgrade for your running if you’re a Strava user. While the specifics of integration and subscriptions are still being ironed out, the prospect of having Runna’s training plans seamlessly integrated with Strava’s social and tracking features is exciting. You’ll just have to sit tight and see how these two powerhouses come together in the weeks and months ahead.
Source: Strava
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