What is Suunto?
Suunto app is the phone app that pairs with Suunto's GPS sports watches, and it sits between the watch and everything else you use. Its Strava link runs in both directions, but with different cargo in each: activities you record on the watch go up to Strava automatically, and routes and Live Segments you've starred on Strava come back down to the watch. There's no third-party middleman here. Suunto built the integration itself, and the connection lives under Profile then Partner services.
The route direction is the one people actually search for, and it works, with conditions. Star a route in "My Routes" on Strava and it lands in Suunto app; unstar it and it disappears again. Because Routes is a Strava subscriber feature, you need a Strava subscription for that half, which is presumably why every new Suunto watch ships with a 60-day Strava trial in the box. Getting a route the last step onto the watch means toggling "Use in watch" on it in the app's map library, and no more than 15 routes can sit on the device at once.
Suunto itself is a 1936 Finnish company (Tuomas Vohlonen's liquid-filled compass), and it's still run out of Vantaa, though it changed hands in 2022: Amer Sports divested Suunto to the Chinese wearables maker Liesheng, completing on 6 May 2022. If you're an older Suunto owner looking for Movescount, that's gone. Suunto closed it on 10 January 2022 and moved everything to this app, with a one-time transfer for your old Moves.
Key Features
Activities go one way: watch to Strava
Connect the accounts once and every workout that syncs from the watch to Suunto app is then pushed to Strava automatically. What it won't do is backfill. Strava's own documentation is explicit that setting up the sync doesn't bring over historical activities, so anything already in your Suunto diary has to be exported as FIT or GPX and uploaded to Strava by hand.
Strava routes down to the watch
Starred Strava routes flow into Suunto app and then onto the watch for turn-by-turn navigation. It's supported on Suunto's navigation-capable watches (the Ambit family, Spartan family, and the 5, 7 and 9) and not on models without navigation like the Suunto 3, the Core, or the dive computers.
Strava Live Segments, with tight caps
Starred segments sync to the watch on the Suunto 9 Peak, 9 Peak Pro, Vertical and Baro (not the Suunto 3, 5 Peak or 7), and this also needs a Strava subscription. The ceiling is low: 20 segments at a time on the 9 Peak Pro, 5 on everything else. The watch alerts you as a segment approaches but you switch to the Live Segments screen yourself, and straying off course ends the effort.
Sport-specific heatmaps
Suunto's heatmaps are drawn from its own community's activities and split by sport, so trail running and road running show as different maps rather than one blended blur. Brighter lines mean more traffic. They're a map layer in the app, and they're the reason a lot of people open it without owning a Suunto at all.
Route planning in the app, and a free web planner
In-app you get 2D and 3D maps, road surface filters, and routing modes: any road or path, all road types, all road types avoiding hills, paved roads only, or free drawing. Suunto also launched Routeplanner, a browser tool at routeplanner.suunto.com, in December 2025: sport-specific heatmaps, GPX/FIT/KML import, GPX export, shareable route links that stay live for six months, and a Suunto login that's optional rather than required.
Training load built on TrainingPeaks' model
The Training zone shows this week's load against a six-week average, your intensity distribution across heart rate, pace or power zones, volume by sport, and a per-workout impact label like Aerobic or Speed & Agility, plus which training model your week resembles (polarized, sweet spot, or base). Underneath it's TrainingPeaks' Training Stress Score, calculated from power, threshold pace or heart rate depending on the sport, with CTL, ATL and TSB tracked in the Diary's Progress view.
Free, with no Suunto subscription
The App Store lists the app as free with no in-app purchases. Suunto's approach instead is the Value Pack that comes with a new watch: 60 days of Strava premium, 30 days of TrainingPeaks premium plus some training plans, and 60 days of komoot premium. The paid tiers are other companies'.
Who It's For
- Suunto watch owners who want their rides and runs on Strava without touching a cable or a file
- Riders and runners who plan on Strava and need those routes on the wrist, and who already pay for Strava
- Route hunters who want sport-specific heatmaps and a desktop planner that doesn't ask them to make an account
- Anyone still looking for Movescount, which closed in January 2022 and was replaced by this app
Does the Suunto app sync with Strava?
Yes, and it's a two-way connection with different things going each way. Recorded activities upload from Suunto app to Strava automatically after each sync. Coming back the other way are your starred Strava routes and starred Live Segments, which land in the app and then on the watch. Connect the accounts under Profile, then Partner services, then Strava.
Can I send a Strava route to my Suunto watch?
Yes. Star the route in "My Routes" on Strava and it syncs into Suunto app; in the app's map tab library, toggle "Use in watch" on to push it to the device. A maximum of 15 routes can be on the watch at a time, and unstarring a route in Strava removes it from Suunto too. If you connected the two accounts a long time ago you may need to disconnect and reconnect Strava to switch route sync on.
Do I need a Strava subscription?
For routes and Live Segments, yes. Both are Strava subscriber features, so the free Strava tier won't sync them. Uploading your activities from Suunto app to Strava doesn't require a subscription. New Suunto watches come with a 60-day Strava trial as part of the Value Pack.
Why aren't my old activities showing up on Strava?
Because the sync only starts from the moment you connect it. Strava's documentation says setting up Suunto sync doesn't carry over historical activities, so anything recorded before you linked the accounts has to be exported from Suunto app as a FIT or GPX file and uploaded to Strava manually.
Is the Suunto app free, and what happened to Movescount?
The app is a free download with no in-app purchases listed on the App Store, and there's no Suunto subscription. The trials bundled with a new watch are for Strava, TrainingPeaks and komoot instead. Movescount, the old Suunto web service, closed on 10 January 2022; your training history was transferable to Suunto app as a one-time migration.
