# Strava having serious auto-pause issues for anyone else??



## eicca (May 9, 2014)

I don't get it. Strava worked flawlessly last summer every time. But this year the auto-pause conveniently chooses to either take forever to recognize that I have stopped or doesn't pause at all. Of course, this happens only on the trails I really care about setting PRs on.

Same phone, same settings, same bike park, tried reinstalling the app, for whatever reason it decided to throw fits this summer and it's driving me nuts.


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

Why not turn off auto-pause? Shouldn't a PR be registered for an all out, un-paused continuous effort? I'm pretty sure PR's are based on elapsed time over a segment not moving time. Am I missing something?


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## eicca (May 9, 2014)

I stop at the top of the DH run to put on my chinbar/get water/take a break after a nasty climb. Again, not a single issue with this practice last year.


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

I get that it's not working and I don't have a solution other than to suggest going on the Strava site and logging a complaint. There may already be a fix being discussed there. I've never experienced the anomaly. As for the PR thing, if you have started a segment and then stop somewhere before the end of that segment, whether auto pause is functional or not, your elapsed time is being recorded and that is what counts on scoring the segment so stopping is hosing your time. The clock keeps ticking. If you do your DH prep before you cross the starting threshold of that segment, you're safe if you roll it all the way to the end of the segment.


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

ummmm.....


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## mik_git (Feb 4, 2004)

wouldn't you just turn off auto pause? since your only worried about segment times, it will only increase your overall time of the ride. Turning off auto pause was the first thing I did when I first got a gps device (and every subsequent one as well). But for me the time I'm out riding is the time im out riding.


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## c8stom (May 19, 2015)

eicca said:


> I don't get it. Strava worked flawlessly last summer every time. But this year the auto-pause conveniently chooses to either take forever to recognize that I have stopped or doesn't pause at all. Of course, this happens only on the trails I really care about setting PRs on.
> 
> Same phone, same settings, same bike park, tried reinstalling the app, for whatever reason it decided to throw fits this summer and it's driving me nuts.


Is your phone an IPhone 5 by any chance ?


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

Are you using a wheel sensor or only GPS? GPS signals have position and speed noise that can make it look like you're moving when stopped or stopped when moving and this can cause erratic auto-pause behavior. Most all bike GPS devices and some phone base apps include the capability for wheel sensors as they improve low speed accuracy and performance of the device and provide more accurate distance measurement over tortuous tracks often more typical in mountain biking. 

For low speed riding as sometimes encountered in mtbing, putting two magnets at 180 degrees apart on the wheel can help as it doubles the frequency of magnet passes. The device will auto calculate the wheel circumference as 1/2 actual or you can enter 1/2 actual manually to get the correct distance and speed.


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## *OneSpeed* (Oct 18, 2013)

Oh My Sack! said:


> If you do your DH prep before you cross the starting threshold of that segment, you're safe if you roll it all the way to the end of the segment.


^ this. or just turn off auto pause. try it for a few rides, it's not going to negatively effect your segment times, only your average speed, which is pretty trivial.

another thing i think helps is if the phone is easily accessible, wake it up before an important section. it seems to jump into action if it's been dormant.

If your using an iPhone, I've noticed strava will behave strangely after a OS update, or after a Strava update. usually an uninstall/reinstall fixes it. if not you'll just have to wait until they update the software. mine returned to normal each time after a while.

if you really need accurate information, get a Garmin.


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## JPanaccione (Nov 17, 2014)

The loss of the GPS signal is whats causing it, its not Strava, it's your phone's GPS. I had it do the pause/resuming, its just best to turn it of. If you're using an external device like the RFLKT, you can manually pause it and resume and you don't have to touch your phone, (just remember to manually resume it, i've forgotten many times, lol).

or like "OS" said, grab a Garmin, they have an inexpensive newer models now too.


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## ryguy79 (Apr 12, 2007)

I've never had a problem with strava on both Galaxy 3 and 6. A friend of mine has similar problems frequently with iPhone. So probably not Strava's fault.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

turn off auto pause. Strava (and every other service out there) will calculate your stopped time and moving time whether you enable that feature or not. Auto pause is more trouble than it's worth, and is really only useful for road rides, anyway.


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## FullBladdy (Aug 26, 2011)

Yeah Strava can be flaky and in actuality it is really only a general measurement of our distance, climbing etc. If your segment includes both the climb and the downhill you should forget about pr's if you stop. If that was the case you could push to red line and stop multiple times on a climb which would potentially greatly increase your speed but it doesn't work that way and isn't really a fair way of going for KOMs or PRs

I know it measures total time not just moving time because when I am out riding with slower people and have to stop often to wait I am not coming home with a bunch of trophies, just how it should be. I would suggest taking a close look at the particular segment on your computer to get a better idea of where the segment starts and stops.

I have seen many times that Strava starts acting funky for no reason then soon seems to fix itself. I run Android and my brother runs iPhone and our distances and total elevation are never the same. I considered getting a Garmin for many reasons and more exact data is one of them. Using the garmin gps with a physical speed sensor does a much better job of getting the distance part right especially on obscured tree covered mountain bike trails.


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## eicca (May 9, 2014)

c8stom said:


> Is your phone an IPhone 5 by any chance ?


Why yes, yes it is. And it was last year too.


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## c8stom (May 19, 2015)

eicca said:


> Why yes, yes it is. And it was last year too.


I also use an IPhone 5s and had no issues with Strava for the first 6 months. It was only after I was forced to upgrade to IOS 8.4 that I started seeing GPS drops. I noticed the drops coincided with very hot weather ( 38+ deg C ). Upon more research, I believe the GPS gets turned off when the phone gets too hot, an inbuilt self protection mechanism. This may or may not be the same as your issue.

In the end, I bought a Garmin 520 for my GPS which has not missed a heartbeat.


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## SeaHag (Jul 14, 2011)

I've got a Samsung Note 5 on Sprint network that recently updated the O.S. and ever since my tracking apps have failed to record a ride. I'll put in 10+ miles and Strava will show .1, .2, or even 0.0 miles. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Strava three times with no change in performance. Today I downloaded an old app I used to use, Endomondo, and that also failed to track my ride. 

GPS location was turned on and enabled to communicate with the apps, so I don't know what more I can do other than wait for Strava to come out with an update that works with my phone's new operating system.

Any ideas other than turning off the auto pause feature?...which I'll try.


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## Ruffstuff (Jan 12, 2015)

I've been having that with strava since the new android, you need to turn screen always on option on in strava and you need to turn the dose functiom off im power settings on phone, go into settings then power then battery optimization then all apps, when in there find strava and turn it off

Sent from my 8055 using Tapatalk


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## Porkchop_Power (Jul 30, 2008)

Got sick of Strava stopping and not recording all of my rides so I got a Garmin Edge 25 ($160). Never been happier and have not had any problems. Also, keep in mind there are many other advantages of not using the Strava app (I have a iPhone 5c):

- Most GPS units sample GPS data at least once per second. iOS limits apps from pulling GPS data to once every 3 seconds I believe. This is why it takes so long to auto pause, it can be three seconds from when you stop to the app seeing the same GPS coordinates. This improves accuracy quite a bit, especially on twisty mountain trails which is what I ride. Not as big a deal on straight pavement.

- Battery life. 8-10 hours on an average GPS, phones are much lower and I would rather have battery life left for emergencies, photos, looking at maps, etc.

- Waterproof and lighter (although I still carry my phone on longer rides)

- Auto bluetooth upload to Strava within seconds of connecting 

- Direct display on your handlebar of all ride data, never going to put my phone on my bars.

Just less of a headache to worry about if it is recording or not.


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## SeaHag (Jul 14, 2011)

Ruffstuff said:


> I've been having that with strava since the new android, you need to turn screen always on option on in strava and you need to turn the dose functiom off im power settings on phone, go into settings then power then battery optimization then all apps, when in there find strava and turn it off
> 
> Sent from my 8055 using Tapatalk


I think I found all the settings you mentioned and made the changes. It's supposed to rain the next three days; so it might take that long to figure out if that will have it working for me again.


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## Ruffstuff (Jan 12, 2015)

I've been back & forward with strava cs for a few weeks with this, seems like I'm a world's first 😂💪

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

Porkchop_Power said:


> Got sick of Strava stopping and not recording all of my rides so I got a Garmin Edge 25 ($160). Never been happier and have not had any problems. Also, keep in mind there are many other advantages of not using the Strava app (I have a iPhone 5c):
> 
> - Most GPS units sample GPS data at least once per second. iOS limits apps from pulling GPS data to once every 3 seconds I believe. This is why it takes so long to auto pause, it can be three seconds from when you stop to the app seeing the same GPS coordinates. This improves accuracy quite a bit, especially on twisty mountain trails which is what I ride. Not as big a deal on straight pavement.
> 
> ...


Wait a second. You are quoting low recording intervals and then present the Edge 25 as an option to do better? You must not have done your research because that device absolutely does not record that frequently, unless there was a firmware update somewhere that I was unaware of.


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## NordieBoy (Sep 26, 2004)

Nope, all the downsides with the 25 are still there 
Recording interval, tree coverage, power and HRM data fields.


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## c8stom (May 19, 2015)

Consider the Edge 520. I'd buy another one if I had an excuse to.

The unit uses 6% of battery capacity per hour and that is with GPS/Glonass, cadence, speed, HR and backlight (10%) all turned on.

Strava is great as free apps go but if you want 100% reliability, get a dedicated unit.


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## bbqmike (Jan 5, 2016)

I just upgraded to the 520 from the 25 and agree with the above post.


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## Porkchop_Power (Jul 30, 2008)

I think some of the confusion and issues comes from the fact that the Edge 25 always has the smart tracking feature enabled. This means that the output of the gps file can be anywhere from 1 second to several second internals depending on the type of trail. However, where the Strava app (on iOS) is only allowed to look for a GPS signal every 3 seconds, the Edge 25 is constantly (or at least 1/sec) looking for a signal and comparing the delta location vs. delta time. 

To test this I downloaded a recent mountain bike ride that has slow climbing sections and very fast downhill sections, some with a lot of turns. I found that on the slower straight sections the delta was about 3 seconds on average while on the faster downhill sections it does go to 1 second intervals (though not all the time). This is without any other sensors (wheel, hrm, etc.) attached. The firmware is constantly being updated so this may be an improvement. 

Anyway, the overall output is smooth. Would it be even better with a better GPS that had a higher capture rate? Sure, but it has been working for me. The true test will be when more snow melts and I can ride up higher where there is less history of the tracks in the Strava database.


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## NordieBoy (Sep 26, 2004)

How is the 25 working for you in tree cover?
I find I can be spinning along at 95rpm which is about 19kph and the 25 can be reporting 5kph. This is with GLONASS turned on and a speed/cadence sensor installed.
Out of the tree cover and it's much better.


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## Porkchop_Power (Jul 30, 2008)

So far not many issues with trees but the tree cover here in Colorado is not very thick and is almost 100% pine. I will see how it does on some of the thicker tree portions.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

Porkchop_Power said:


> So far not many issues with trees but the tree cover here in Colorado is not very thick and is almost 100% pine. I will see how it does on some of the thicker tree portions.


This is why you're okay with the device. CO has nothing on "twisty" trails like the midwest. Small tracts of public land mean for trail networks with a VERY high trail density here. The limitations of the Edge 25 may appear small to you, but in my riding environment, they mean for very large problems with the recorded data.

Not to mention, your tree cover is very sparse compared to more thickly wooded places that I tend to ride.

from what I'm able to tell, GPS conditions in the intermountain west appear to be the best that mtb riders are likely to encounter in the US. so when someone from that region says a GPS is accurate enough, I hold my breath. I wait until someone from the PNW, or the southern appalachians or from my own area chimes in.


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## Porkchop_Power (Jul 30, 2008)

Makes sense. Also, from what I understand when you ride a trail that is already on Strava it uses existing information to plot the trail. That is probably why my GPS coordinates match up so well with the trail. There are also a lot of riders out here using Strava. For the trails close to town it is normal to have 5,000 - 10,000 riders listed. Considering many people ride the same trails weekly there could be something like 100,000 existing GPS tracks on the local trailsl


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## MisterM (Jan 23, 2016)

It takes longer to pause on some of my stops I noticed. I use the Garmin Edge 25 now and that auto pause is pretty dead on, it reads fast.


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## eicca (May 9, 2014)

MisterM said:


> It takes longer to pause on some of my stops I noticed. I use the Garmin Edge 25 now and that auto pause is pretty dead on, it reads fast.


Does the Edge 25 record directly into the Strava app?


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

eicca said:


> Does the Edge 25 record directly into the Strava app?


no. why would it do that? It's a standalone GPS like every other standalone GPS. If you want to put your stuff on Strava, fine. MapMyRide, fine. RideWithGPS, fine. Garmin Connect, fine. Nowhere, fine.


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## ewarnerusa (Jun 8, 2004)

eicca said:


> Does the Edge 25 record directly into the Strava app?


As Harold said, no. I don't know about the 25, but Garmin Edge devices like 510/520/810/820/1000 use bluetooth to connect to a smartphone app (Garmin Connect Mobile App) and auto upload your activities to the Garmin Connect website/server upon completion. Alternatively, you can manually hook your Edge (or any other GPS device that records activities in a compatible format) to a computer and upload your activities to the Garmin Connect website. Garmin Connect has partnered with Strava so that any new activity will be automatically pushed to Strava so it appears there as well.

In summary, once your activity data makes it to the Garmin Connect servers it gets immediately pushed to Strava and your Strava phone app will alert you that the new activity is ready. Usually within seconds from completing the activity if you're using a bluetooth-enabled device and the GC mobile app.


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