Connect Strava, import from your Apple Watch, and manage where your rides come from.
Last updated September 8, 2026 · Reviewed by Eric Lynn, Founder
If you prefer to record rides with Strava, Garmin, Wahoo, or Apple Watch, you can connect your Strava account to automatically sync those rides to Riding Places. GeoZone completions are detected from the GPS data, and points are awarded to your groups.
Once connected, future rides recorded in Strava are automatically imported. This typically happens within a few seconds of saving your Strava ride.
Only New Rides Sync
Past Strava rides are not imported. Only rides recorded after you connect will sync to Riding Places.
Read-Only Access
Riding Places only reads your Strava data. It never posts, modifies, or deletes anything on your Strava account.
Rides Need a Route
Any kind of ride syncs, including indoor trainer rides, as long as the ride has a GPS route. Zwift and other indoor platforms record a route as you ride, so those rides come across and count like any other. An activity you type into Strava by hand has no route, so it will not sync to Riding Places.
When you save a ride in Strava, it tells Riding Places to:
Synced rides count toward your groups' Rambles too, just like rides recorded in the app - progress updates once the ride syncs.
If you record with a Garmin, Wahoo, or Apple Watch, you can still sync to Riding Places:
Your device syncs to Strava, which then syncs to Riding Places automatically. This chain works seamlessly in the background.
The same ride can reach Riding Places from more than one place - your phone and Strava, or your Apple Watch and Strava, for example. When that happens we keep both copies together as a single ride and count only one of them, so your points, leaderboards, and donations are never doubled.
You decide which source wins. In Settings, open Integration priority and use the up and down arrows to order your sources from most to least trusted - for any ride recorded by more than one, the highest source in your list is the copy that counts. Integration priority only appears once you have rides from two or more sources.
You can also override a single ride: open the ride and choose which recorded copy should count for that ride alone.
The Riding Places app can import completed outdoor cycling workouts from your Apple Watch through the Apple Health app on iPhone, without Strava.
It imports completed outdoor cycling workouts recorded with the Workout app on your Apple Watch from the last 30 days, and new ones when you open the app (or when you tap Import now on the Apple Health card). Indoor rides without a GPS route are not imported, and Riding Places never writes to the Health app.
Android watch import is coming soon; it will work the same way, through Health Connect.
A ride recorded by both your watch and Strava is kept as one - use Integration priority to choose which copy counts.
Rides synced from Strava don't include commute details. To track CO2 savings from a Strava ride:
Your CO2 savings will be calculated based on the ride distance and the transport mode you replaced.
To disconnect your Strava account, go to Settings, open the Integrations section, and tap the orange Strava button again, then confirm Disconnect. Previously synced rides remain in your history, but future Strava rides will not sync.
If your Strava rides aren't appearing in Riding Places:
If a GeoZone completion wasn't detected from a Strava ride:
If you record in the Riding Places app and also have Strava connected, you may see duplicate rides. To avoid this, either:
Connect Strava from your Riding Places account on the web, and manage or disconnect the link at any time from Profile & Settings.
How to record rides in the Riding Places app or sync them from Strava, see points and completed GeoZones, and edit or delete the rides you have saved.
The exact emission factors, published sources, and assumptions behind the CO2 savings Riding Places credits for commute rides.
