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overestimated running distance

  • October 15, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 37 views

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Hi Strava Community,

I’m using an iPhone 14 to record my Strava run

I always observe that my distance is always longer than my friend on the same course

For exemple : this WE I ran “20km de Paris”, my Strava dispay 20,92km instead of 20km !

It’s a huge error around 5% 

If I try to correct it by strava it’s worst with 22km ! 

I shared with you all my gpx file, maybe it can help to understand and I hope find a solution

Thanks

Loïc

 

Best answer by Jana_S

Hi ​@loicv,

a phone will never be perfectly accurate - if accuracy is important for you, you might want to consider getting a smart/sports watch (e.g. Apple Watch, Coros, Garmin or such).

If you want to keep using a phone, you may try to minimise the error by carrying it in a way that won't block gps reception (e.g. not buried in a backpack), here's some more tips: 

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216917707-Bad-GPS-Data

1 reply

Jana_S
Superuser
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  • Superuser
  • 1701 replies
  • Answer
  • October 15, 2025

Hi ​@loicv,

a phone will never be perfectly accurate - if accuracy is important for you, you might want to consider getting a smart/sports watch (e.g. Apple Watch, Coros, Garmin or such).

If you want to keep using a phone, you may try to minimise the error by carrying it in a way that won't block gps reception (e.g. not buried in a backpack), here's some more tips: 

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216917707-Bad-GPS-Data