Creating a companion profile for kids + dogs

[Andrew2]

I have been using Strava for years and love it and recently I got a dog who loves running with me. I'd like to be able to keep track of how much my dog runs with me so I don't over do it with her. My idea is to create a companion profile (call it what ever you like) with basic information without the need to sign up to a full account.

I would like to create a companion profile that is linked to my own Strava account for animals and kids. In my case I would create one profile for my dog and another profile for my son who is only 8yrs. This way when I run or cycle with the dog or my son, I can tag them (private tagging). This would allow me to keep track of how much exersice/training my son is doing with me along with the dogs activity level. 

Even better would be to allow this same companion profile to be linked to my wife's Strava account. When she goes for a run with the dog in the morning, I can see the dogs activity on my account. Having this feature will allow me to see the dog has been for a run today and it might just need an afternoon walk instead of another run and potentially overdoing it.

[Soren]

Hello @Andrew2 thanks for sharing this suggestion. 

We’re happy to hear that you're passionate about supporting an active lifestyle for your child and dog. As you're probably aware, we do not allow Strava accounts for children under the age of 13. You can read our Terms of Service here.

I understand that you would like to track and tally the activities done that meet specific criteria.

There's an existing idea that touches upon a broader use but essentially would provide a solution to what you're looking for: User Defined Tags for Activities - this would allow each individual to customize tags to their liking and could be applied to a variety of scenarios. Feel free to comment and vote on it to show your support.

Similarly, but not quite the same, there's also a request to Add Dog Walking as an activity type.

Lastly, an existing functionality that can be of use is including private notes in your activities, the activities that contain keywords you used in the description or private notes will be populated in your activity search, allowing you to keep track of activities you've completed with your dog and child while maintaining privacy

We will be archiving this suggestion to keep the forums organized, ensure that suggestions are easy to find, and prevent votes from being divided across duplicate posts. Thank you for your participation!

[Commuter]

I am looking for the same kind of companion account or an app that will allow my under age son to have his own cycling profile to track his rides. There isn't any reason he should need to create his own account.  I would love to have a family account where we can all see each others rides and progress without needing to have multiple disconnected accounts. 

[Marko9Tooth]

I wanted to track my son's rides also but couldn't do it. I ended up creating an account for him and using my birthdate. Once I'm done with the rides I add him in, then hit his account and accept the ride. It has been working great until I recently got logged out and can't get back into his account. I'm trying to work with Strava customer support but they are terrible and hard as heck to get in touch with. Once I did they ended up wanting me to send in an ID for him. He's 7 so I don't have an ID for him. I'm using his passport, heavily redacted, and my ID in hopes they can unlock it and get me in. It'll be a bummer to lose all his rides since I've been tracking like this since he was 4 and a half or 5. It's really dumb with the cost paid to use this app that they don't have a simple add a kid, or a family option, like Spotify or something similar. 

Anyway, thought I'd chime in in case you wanted to go that route.  

[Andrew2]

Thanks Marko,

This is exactly the system I have also been using but thankfully I haven’t been logged out.

I agree, some sort of family account where kids profiles are kept to a minimum & only linked to the parent would be amazing. Then when they reach a certain age it then switches to full account without loosing all the previous data.

I see it very similar to how shoes or bicycles are treated where you can see what activities they’ve been attached too with total distance covered etc.