Remove "walks" from running challenges and expand challenges for walks

[runprime]

Walks have been added to running challenges as of January 2024 and as a person who does both run and walk acitvities as separate sports, this has ruined the experience of challenges in the app for me, and in general.

My walks are no counting towards running challenges which rightly used to be separate. They are separate sports.

I found an idea here from last year where somebody requested the opposite and now it has been implemented. From their point of view, they were lesser abled and some walks "felt" like runs to them, which i acknowledge - however, the solution there is ti simply record a running workout on your device, not a walk.

To improve the experience for walkers then more 5k, 10k and monthly mileage challenges can be set up to keep it interesting. 

Last year I really enjoyed tracking my walking challenge and sepaately doing the running challenges. 

Now there are fewer challenges in total which seems like the app is getting worse, not better.

Also importantly need to point out that runs are not included in the walking challenges.... I guess that's the real punchline to this joke.

[SusieG]

Great idea PauliusG! Here's what I emailed:

Hi Strava Team

The Community Hub has been continuously voicing their discontent (including myself) at the inclusion of walking activities towards running challenges, yet you don’t seem to be listening. 

It mightn’t seem like such a big deal to the powers that be at Strava, but it has bothered me so much that I have cancelled my premium membership and so have many other people.

Why would anyone think that walking should count towards running?? Yet strangely you don't count running activities towards the walking badges!!

The whole thing is so ridiculous I’ve been changing my ‘walking’ activities to ‘golf’ so they don’t count towards the running challenges (I don’t even play golf!) 

Please take a look at the Community Hub and see the hundreds of comments and kudos and membership cancellations because of this.

Kindly listen to what is being said in the Community Hub and  reconsider what you have done with these challenges.

[Hubert12]

I've sent the same email too, this said I had to change the cancel subscription as I was automatically renewed as I didn't cancel it on time. Might still do the cancellation!

[SusieG]

I finally received a personal reply rather than just a generic bot response.
Unfortunately it doesn't sound like they are going to change it back anytime soon 😞
I've responded via the response Bad, I'm unsatisfied with comments similar to what I wrote above.

Robin

(Help Center)

Mar 12, 2024, 6:16 AM MDT

Hello Susie,
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and we're sad that we're losing you as a Subscription member on Strava.  Our Product Team is monitoring the comments in the Community Hub. 
 
We don't have an update to share at this time, however please know that your feedback has been reviewed and we will provide updates if any become available.
 
We're committed to delivering the best athlete experience, and that often means weighing various ideas against each other and fitting them into our overall roadmap.
Your input is valuable and all ideas go through evaluation to ensure they align with both broader goals and our athletes' needs. We'll be sure to keep you updated as soon as there are any notable developments.
 
Thank you for being a part of the Community and for helping us make our product better together!
 
 Best,
Robin
Strava Support Team

[PauliusG]

I got something too but at the same time nothing 😄

First replay:
"Thanks for writing in and thanks for your feedback about walks being added to running challenges.  Our Product Team is monitoring the feedback being provided in the Community Hub.  We don't have any update to share at this time, but if one becomes available, we will be sure to update that thread.
 
We appreciate your interest in this topic and thanks again for taking the time to share your input."

Second replay:
"Sorry but this request and discussion is beyond our Support team. While our team reads and responds to support inquiries, we don't speak to the direction of the product or policy, nor reasoning for product or policy decisions. We do appreciate the feedback though, and I've passed your comments along to the rest of our team."

[yantonov]

It's looks like an auto generated answer!

Product team continue to make ridiculous decisions and don't understand completely what is the audience of the service!

[dangreen17]

I have just emailed them too. 

The lack of a response is uuuuuuuuuunreal.  I have worked for some pretty rubbish companies in my time, places that treat customers like this just don't give a.....

As time has passed, It is less about the badges for me.  The really annoying thing is the walking distance being merged with the running distance.  Such a silly idea. 

There is nowhere to view calendar month running totals on the world's most popular running app 🙂

[MattBrewis]

Hey Dan - completely agree with all this. Really fed-up about it… but you know you can still see your monthly running miles, right? On the iOS app, go to ‘you’, ‘monthly activities’, ‘see more of your March stats’, and there it is broken down into running and walking and compared to last month. Screenshot below…

 

 

[dangreen17]

Thanks for this

i can see it for Feb and current month now!  Would be great to see previous data   Just need 6 people to vote on it and I’m sure it will happen 🙂

[fryeharp]

Hey Strava!  Does running count for the walking challenge??  Seems about right.  If walking counts as running in the running challenge, why does running not count as walking in the walking challenge?  

[dangreen17]

This is a really good point, and another oversight.