Tuesday Chat with Team Strava: Getting the Most out of your Polar Device on Strava

[SkippyVasquez]

Hello and welcome back to Tuesday Chat with Team Strava. 

Strava integrates with a wide range of devices and platforms.  Today we're going to talk about the Polar/Strava integration, explain how it works, and share the answers to some commonly asked questions.  

Polar makes a number of GPS watches and cycling computers, and you can also record activities with the Polar Flow App which is available on Android and iOS.

To sync your Polar recorded activities to Strava, you’ll need to do a one time set up to connect your accounts:

To Connect Polar Flow to Strava:

Open Polar Flow on your mobile device.

1. Click the three lines aka the hamburger button to open the menu.

2. Scroll down and click on General Settings.

3. Click on the big red Connect button.

4. Under Connected Services, find Strava, and click on Connect.

A confirmation box will appear, it’s a little long so be sure to scroll down and click Okay. Next you will be asked to Log In to Stava. Make sure you know your login credentials and how you logged into Strava previously. 

For example, when you first created your account did you set it up to login with Facebook, Google, Apple, or did you use the email/password combo.

Once you’ve entered your credentials you will be presented with the Authorization page. You’ll want to make sure all the boxes are checked.

That’s it, if you are successful you will see the Account connected banner.

Frequently Asked Questions:

•  Can I use Strava Live Segments with my Polar device?
  • Yes, you can use Strava Live Segments on your Polar device. Take a look at our KB article to get all the information on requirements, selecting segments, and more.
    
    
• Will all my previous Polar Flow activities transfer to Strava?
  • Unfortunately, no. Historical activities do not transfer over to Strava. You can, however; use Polar’s export option and upload the file manually to Strava.
    
    
• Why are my activities on Strava not visible to others?
  • If your Polar Flow account is set to private, your activities will upload to Strava as Private. If you have questions about your Polar Flow privacy settings it is best to reach out directly to Polar support.
    
    
• Will activities done by other 3rd party apps sync to Strava.
  • No, any activities uploaded to Polar Flow that were done using a 3rd party app will not sync to Strava.

If you have a Polar/Strava related question that we haven’t covered in our FAQ, feel free to drop us a reply to this post and we’ll do our best to help you out.  Or, if you’re currently using Polar with Strava and would like to share your experience, we would love to hear from you!

This article is part of a series on Strava's Devices and Integrations.  To see more articles in this series, visit the links below:

Apple Watch and Strava

Garmin and Strava

Peloton and Strava

Zwift and Strava

Like this post? Give it a kudos! When you kudo a post, it lets us know what content you would like to see more of.

Cheers,

[Radek]

100 kcal activity in Polar is synced as 100 cal to Strava. Is it correct ? 

[Immo]

Is it possible to have Strava activities sync to Polar Flow or does that only work the other way around?

I tend to use Strava during workouts due to the features like live segments. But would love to have those activities sync to Flow for the training plan functionality.

[SkippyVasquez]

Hey Immo,

Thanks for the response. 

Currently, syncing between Polar Flow and Strava is one way only. It is also not possible to upload files directly to Polar Flow from any 3rd Party app. Please reach out to Polar support for any additional questions regarding sync capabilities.

[Immo]

Hi Skippy,

Thanks for the response.

I've found a 3rd party App called: SyncMyTracks 

I installed this and it works to transfer all previous Strava (and other app activities) to Polar Flow.

Thought others may find this info useful.

Cheers,

Immo