Strava has officially reintroduced heart rate monitor pairing with its smartphone app for all users. Any compatible BLE+ heart rate sensor can now be paired with the smartphone app, giving you live real-time heart rate monitor data. This feature is available to all users, including non-subscribers.
This re-launch follows on from last year's news that Strava was discontinuing the ability to pair sensors with its smartphone app, citing stability issues.
This caused much ire among the app’s user-base because it required the use of a third-party app or standalone device – such as a smartwatch or GPS bike computer – to pair sensors. The feature was re-introduced in September 2020 as a beta test to select users.
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How to pair a heart rate monitor with the Strava app
You can access the sensor tab (the heartbeat symbol) from the record screen. From there, you can pair any compatible BLE+ heart rate monitor.
Your live heart rate will then display on top of the heart rate symbol on the activity tracking page.
What about power meter sensors?
We asked Strava whether it intends to introduce the ability to pair power meters or other sensors with the app in the future and it says that "the plan is to first roll out heart rate monitors with BLE pairing to ensure it's working as intended before any other expansion [to the functionality of the app]".
It added that "there's no hard timeline, but if the rollout of BLE pairing works as planned, you can expect power and cadence meter support... in the future".
For those users that don’t wish to purchase a standalone tracking device, this will no doubt be welcome news.
