I record my MTB rides on Strava with an iPhone 12 Pro Max. I made half a dozen print screens so that you can, if you know and/or want, answer one or two questions. The blue line was the path I took and drew after the fact by hand. The red lines are those recorded by Strava. It's like this all the time in every bike rides. Guys with iPhones, is this normal to happen? Guys who have Garmins, does this happen to you too? Regardless of whether I'm in open field, near trees or buildings. It happens everywhere, all the time and every ride. Thank you in advance.
With the iPhone 5 I could even see which side of the trails I had passed through. With the iPhone X it started to get worse and now with the iPhone 12 Pro Max, since 2020, it's been a misery. It's the same with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
In my experience, phone GPS will be less accurate than what you get with a dedicated device (watch, bike computer, etc...) and it’s made worse if the phone is in a pocket or somewhere else where it can bounce around. Also (as mentioned in the above link) make sure that you don’t have any kind of power saving features enabled for the Strava app so it can always access your location in the background, even if the screen is off.
A
Anonymous
0 replies
June 26, 2025
To your question… as a Garmin guy (since 2014) I can tell you, no it does NOT happen to us.
make sure that you don’t have any kind of power saving features enabled for the Strava app so it can always access your location in the background, even if the screen is off.
I will read the article in the link carefully, I don't have any kind of power saving features enabled for the Strava app or any other app whatsoever. Thank you so much.
