What is Bandók?
Bandók renames your Strava activities, but only the ones you didn't bother to name. Post a ride, run or walk with Strava's default title ("Morning Ride", "Lunch Ride", "Evening Ride") and Bandók swaps in a one-liner. Name it yourself and it leaves the activity alone. Its homepage pitch is about as subtle as the names: put an end to boring activity names and give your feed some pizzazz.
The names come, in the site's words, from movies and TV shows, pop culture, song lyrics, jokes, puns and nuggets of wisdom, mixed with the maker's own sense of humor. Two from the homepage sample: "Waffles are just awesome bread." and "Bad decisions make good stories." Bandók is a passion project of Troy Hopwood, who describes himself on the About page as an avid ultra-endurance cyclist and computer geek, and who started out building tools he wanted for himself. It's free, with a donate page to help cover the servers.
Key Features
It only touches default names
Bandók renames activities that still carry a Strava default name and assumes anything else is a name you want to keep. That works in both directions: you can overwrite a Bandók name at any time and it stays put, unless you change it back to a default like "Morning Run", in which case Bandók names it again.
A re-roll for names that miss
Don't like the name it picked? Add an old-school sad face, :( , to the end of the title and Bandók has another go.
Rides, runs and walks
The FAQ says it names runs, walks and rides alike.
An off switch that keeps your account
The account page has a "Disable Activity Naming" button that stops the renaming without leaving, and a "Delete Bandók Account" button at the bottom if you want out entirely.
Who It's For
- People who never title their activities and would rather their feed didn't read "Morning Ride" all week
- Anyone chasing a few more kudos from a name that makes friends stop scrolling
What it doesn't do
For your activities, the title is the only thing Bandók describes changing: no stats, no analysis. Bandók picks the line, not you, so if humor in your feed isn't your thing this one isn't either. It's a website only, with no app to install; after you connect, you post to Strava as usual.
Bandók's own site also runs live tracking pages for ultra-distance cycling events. That's a separate part of the site, and the site doesn't describe a Strava role in it.
How do I sign up?
Create a Bandók account with an email address and a password, then connect it to Strava from the same form ("Register and Connect with Strava"). Bandók moved to its own accounts at some point; if you used it before that, the site asks you to register again and says your existing settings carry over, with fewer Strava permissions than before.
What Strava access does it need?
Bandók doesn't list the permissions it asks for. Strava's developer documentation says changing an activity's name needs activity:write, which only reaches activities the app can already see, so expect Strava's connect screen to ask to view and edit your activities (and to view private ones, if you want Only Me activities named). That's what Strava requires, not a list Bandók publishes. Check what that screen shows before you approve it.
What does it do with my data?
The homepage FAQ says Bandók doesn't collect information about you and only names your rides. The privacy policy, last updated in June 2020, is broader: it covers data from networks like Strava (such as name, location, gender, birth date, email and profile picture), mentions Google Analytics, says it doesn't share your information with third parties, and says it may use third-party software to serve ads, with cookies. The Contact page says deleting your account from the account page makes Bandók forget what it knows about you; the policy adds that some information may be kept for fraud and legal reasons.
