Skip to main content

Strava extends its popular Beacon safety feature to the Apple Watch

Strava Beacon apple watch
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Unexpected injuries, chance encounters with wildlife, or even getting lost can turn a short workout into a daylong ordeal. Strava users with an Apple Watch are now a little bit safer when exercising outside thanks to Strava and its newly expanded Beacon safety feature. Available now, Strava has rolled out Beacon to the Apple Watch, allowing owners to use the feature on their wearable instead of their iPhone.

Strava introduced Beacon, its first safety feature, a few years back after a survey revealed users were interested in a tracking feature. Beacon tracking allows friends and family to monitor an athlete location without having to log into Strava or install the Strava app. If someone is late returning home, a loved one can check Beacon to see if the athlete is still on track or needs assistance. Likewise, the person out exercising can run, bike or hike knowing that a friend or family member is watching them from afar and monitoring their progress.

Recommended Videos

Beacon is enabled inside the Strava mobile app and turned on when a person starts an outdoors activity from the app or a compatible smartwatch. Most Garmin fitness watches and now the Apple Watch supports Beacon. Once enabled, Beacon then will send a notice to the athlete’s safety contact with location information. The new Apple Watch integration allows Strava users to turn on Beacon directly from their Watch while leaving their phone in their pocket or armband. Strava members with a cellular-capable Apple Watch can activate and use Beacon from their Watch without having to carry their phones on them.

Strava is known for its challenges, Kudos, and other social features that encourage people to move. The social network for athletes has over 42 million members globally and is growing at a rapid pace. Strava’s basic service is free and allows athletes to track and share their activities. The company also offers a premium Summit service with extra features like Beacon safety tracking and advanced workout analysis. The Summit subscription is broken down into three packs: Training, safety, and analysis. Users can choose the pack that best suits their needs or subscribe to all three packs. Pricing for each pack starts at $2 per month, with a small discount when you purchase all three for $5 per month (billed annually).

Kelly Hodgkins
Kelly's been writing online for ten years, working at Gizmodo, TUAW, and BGR among others. Living near the White Mountains of…
Future Apple Watches could tell you if you’re at risk for diabetes
Someone wearing an original Apple Watch Ultra showing the weather app.

An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but an Apple device on your wrist could replace them altogether. Well, sort of. The Apple Watch is already chock-full of health-focused applications, but according to a recent report from Mark Gurman, an app for testing blood sugar levels is in development.

Apple has always been good at keeping a lid on its projects, but that approach has reached the next level with this app. Multiple layers of non-disclosure agreements and vetting were required before anyone could participate in the employee-only trial, so details regarding the progress of this app are limited. However, it's another step toward needle-free measurements of your blood sugar levels.

Read more
Apple will pay up to $1M to anyone who hacks its AI cloud
Apple's Craig Federighi speaking about macOS security at WWDC 2022.

Apple just made an announcement that shows it means business when it comes to keeping Apple Intelligence secure. The company is offering a massive bug bounty of up to $1 million to anyone who is able to hack its AI cloud, referred to as Private Cloud Compute (PCC). These servers will take over Apple Intelligence tasks when the on-device AI capabilities just aren't good enough -- but there are downsides, which is why Apple's bug-squashing mission seems like a good idea.

As per a recent Apple Security blog post, Apple has created a virtual research environment and opened the doors to the public to let everyone take a peek at the code and judge its security. The PCC was initially only available to a group of security researchers and auditors, but now, anyone can take a shot at trying to hack Apple's AI cloud.

Read more
Concert overload? Apple Music’s new feature can help you choose
The Apple Music screen on the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.

It's a good time to have ears because there's a lot of amazing music coming out all the time. Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter are churning out catchy earworms left and right. Old favorites like Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin are making comebacks. If you've already had to choose between concerts this year, it was probably a tough choice — but Apple Music is introducing a new feature that might help you make your decision.

Apple Music will soon have a tool that musicians can use to create specific playlists based on the setlists of their current shows. If several concerts are happening at the same time, you'll be able to look at the setlist and see what songs are being performed. If one artist is playing your favorite album and the other isn't, well, it's an easy choice.

Read more