Strava Sues Garmin: What the Segment & Heatmap Lawsuit Means for Your Fitness Tracker Data

Strava is suing Garmin, its biggest partner, which fuels 70% of its users, just before a $2.2B IPO in 2026. Is this a risky move or a strategic play?

The (Strava) listing could happen as soon as early 2026 [Reuters, Sep 19, 2025]

Here’s What Just Happened

Strava is suing Garmin for patent infringement and breach of contract. It gets worse. One of the claimed infringements is for Garmin’s use of Heatmaps; Strava didn’t invent those, so their patent claim won’t stand up in court due to prior art.

The next claimed infringement is for that market-leading feature—Garmin Segments. Yep, that one—the one that no one has heard about or cares about, but I can confirm it is a longstanding and real feature (I’ve used it).

You might have thought that would be enough to keep Strava’s lawyers busy, but no. A more serious charge has also been brought for breach of contract. The breach of contract charge arises from Strava’s contention that Garmin has broken their 2015 agreement, which defined how Garmin was allowed to add Strava’s segment features in its ecosystem. It is alleged that the knowledge gained from implementing Strava’s segments was then used to help Garmin develop its own segment infrastructure.

Forget the patents. The meat is in breach of contract.

Garmin copied our features, forcing us to protect our IP [Strava, via dcrainmaker]

What does Strava want?

Here is the million-dollar question.

Strava officially wants Garmin to stop selling sports devices that can use Garmin Segments (e.g., Edge, Fenix, Forerunner). At the same time, Strava suggests that it fully intends to let its customers keep using any data that comes to it from Garmin, whilst hoping that Garmin will continue to let Garmin users send their data to Strava.

I am certain that Strava does not really want that. If Garmin complied, its future subscriber funnel would not come from buyers of new Garmin devices.

That is a crazy ask. Yet, Strava knows that its segments are important to many Garmin owners and how they use their sports devices. Strava is hoping that Garmin doesn’t want to annoy its customers (a reasonable assumption), but it is betting its existence on that core belief.

No comment…yet [Garmin]

What’s the background/ How did we get here?

The two companies have collaborated since 2009, and their relationship has deepened since. Initially, the relationship was based on Garmin sending completed workout files to Strava. However, the ties fundamentally changed in 2015 when Garmin started receiving starred segment details from Strava subscribers, enabling the Garmin owner to compete against segment bests during live workouts.

The partnership seemed like a match made in heaven. Still, rumblings started on November 11, 2024, when Strava restricted partner apps from publicly displaying user data and banned AI training, disrupting apps like coaching tools. Garmin may have quietly retaliated in July this year, requiring partners to attribute ‘its’ (your) data as the source.

Quiet Words But No Agreement

Sources close to the matter suggest that Strava and Garmin have spoken quietly about the situation but reached no agreement. Thus, when Garmin released its paywalled subscription service, Connect+, Strava might have baulked at the inclusion of Trails+, which offered popular routes in given areas—although not in a heatmap form.

Garmin Connect Plus is a success – Garmin doubles down on its commitment, hints at LTE

In late 2024, Strava introduced API changes that disrupted many third-party apps. Garmin was one of the critics, objecting to how Strava handled data attribution and how that data was used to train its AI systems. Strava may have seen as a direct competitor to its premium services.

Both companies use popularity-based heatmaps to help you plan routes over popular trails and roads, which are more likely to be good routes. This is not a novel concept, but its application to sports usage might be novel, and that’s what counts – although counterexamples exist at nyc.gov, MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, and Garmin (2013). However, I first wrote about them on this site later in 2016.

Q: Does Strava really want or need money?

A: Strava is privately owned and has never made a profit. It’s burning through its investors’ money. So you might have thought it either needs or wants more money, but that is unlikely to be the primary motivation here, as Strava is heavily rumoured to be in the advanced stages of an IPO, from which it will get all the funds it needs.

Q: Is Strava pulling a stunt for some free PR

A: Maybe. But it’s misguided, if so. This is big PR, but it is highly negative PR. It won’t raise awareness of Strava; it will merely raise awareness of the legal issues.

Q: Will the case help the valuation of the company for the IPO

A: Yes, it might. I suspect the motivation lies here somewhere. If Strava can close down a potential future competitor for segments (i.e. Garmin) then that will increase the value of its own segment feature and provide a legal foundation for stopping other companies with proprietary segments e.g. Ride with GPS, TrailForks, CycleMeter.

Q: What is the impact on Strava and Garmin users

A: Neither party threatens immediate action. Strava will never restrict its functionality, but Garmin could retaliate by limiting its cooperation with Strava.

Take Out – What Would You Do?

If I were Garmin, I would start to drag my heels. That should be super easy to do in a legal case.

I would wait until the IPO is about to happen and then announce that I’m turning off the Strava Live Segments feature but keeping the regular flow of completed workouts back to Strava.

Some thoughts

We don’t know the full details of the 2015 contractual agreement between Garmin and Strava. There may have been accidental breaches or breaches in bad faith, which will become clear as the court date draws near.

 

Sources

• July 2025: Garmin API Guidelines
• September 2025: Reuters reports on Strava IPO ‘As soon as 2026’
• September 30th, 2025: Strava files case against Garmin
• Garmin Edge 520 first device with Strava Live Segments
• July 1st, 2015: Strava Live Segments Launches
• 2013: Garmin Heatmaps, via Huffpost