What is Garmin Connect?
Garmin Connect is where every Garmin watch, bike computer and tracker sends its data, and for a lot of Strava users it's also the reason activities appear on Strava without anyone doing anything. Link the two accounts once and any activity that reaches Garmin Connect shows up on Strava on its own. There's no per-sport filter and no approval step — the connection is on or it's off.
The direction matters, and Garmin is unusually blunt about it. Garmin's list of what moves between the two accounts has exactly three items: activities uploaded to Garmin Connect, starred Strava courses, and starred Strava segments. It then says plainly that activities created with Strava will not sync to Garmin Connect. A run you recorded on your phone with the Strava app is never coming back the other way, and anything Garmin Connect works out on top of an activity stays on Garmin's side of the fence.
The app is free with the device. In March 2025 Garmin added a paid tier called Garmin Connect+ — $6.99/month or $69.99/year in the US — but it sits on top rather than fencing off what was already there. Garmin's own announcement stated that all existing features and data in Garmin Connect remain free, and Strava sync is not part of the paid tier.
Key Features
Automatic one-way upload to Strava
You start the link from Strava's side — Settings, then Connect an App or Device, then Garmin — or on the web from your profile settings under Social Connections. After that every new Garmin upload flows through. Garmin says the initial sync takes several minutes. Turning it off happens on Garmin's side: disable the "Activities" permission under Strava in your Garmin Connect account settings.
One year of backfill, and only once
The first time you link the accounts, the previous one year of activities in Garmin Connect syncs to Strava. Garmin is specific that automatic historical upload only applies to the first connection. If you ever disconnect and reconnect, anything recorded while the accounts were unlinked has to be uploaded to Strava by hand.
Strava routes land in your Courses folder
This is the one thing that flows Strava to Garmin. Enable the Courses permission for Strava in Garmin Connect, then star or save a route on Strava, and it lands in the Courses folder on your device at the next sync. Custom waypoints carry over as course points. Routes need to be under 600 miles, and unstarring a route on Strava does not delete it from the watch — you have to remove it on the device.
Strava Live Segments on the device
Starred Strava segments push to compatible Garmin units and alert you as you approach the start. This one needs a Strava subscription. It covers rides and runs only, caps at 100 segments total (including the 20-30 popular local segments if you switch those on), and skips downhill segments — Strava's system counts even a slight negative grade as downhill, so some segments showing 0% won't sync. If nothing loads, check Training & Planning > Segments in Garmin Connect is set to Strava Segments rather than Garmin Segments.
Garmin Coach, badges and challenges, free
Garmin Coach builds workouts that adapt to your ability, and the social side — step and distance challenges, groups, badges — costs nothing. Connect+ adds extra written and video guidance to select Coach plans, but the plans themselves are not paywalled.
Garmin Connect+, precisely
The paid tier adds Active Intelligence (AI insights, opt-in and off by default), a customisable Performance Dashboard on the web, nutrition and macro logging, Live Activity mirroring for indoor workouts, Enhanced LiveTrack with text notifications and a personal tracking page, Garmin Trails, 3D topographic maps, exclusive badges and profile frames, and a December Year in Review. There's a 30-day trial, but it requires a credit card up front. Cancel and most of it goes away — badges and points you earned stay, previously logged nutrition stays readable, everything else stops.
Who It's For
- Anyone with a Garmin device who wants rides and runs on Strava without exporting files
- Segment hunters with a Strava subscription who want the KOM alert on the head unit, not in the post-ride analysis
- Riders who plan on Strava and navigate on Garmin, since that's the one direction the sync runs backwards
- Anyone recording with the Strava phone app, who should know those activities will never appear in Garmin Connect
