What it costs
The activity upload is free on both sides. Strava routes and Live Segments on the watch need a paid Strava subscription. Polar's Live Segments pages still call it the Summit Analysis pack, a name Strava no longer uses.
How to set it up
- On the Polar Flow website, click your name in the top right, then Settings, then the Partners tab, and click Connect next to Strava.
- Log in to Strava and click Authorize. Flow shows a confirmation when it's linked.
- In the Polar Flow app the same switch is under General Settings, then Connect, then Strava.
- For routes, allow Flow to view your private non-activity data (segments and routes) when Strava asks. If you connected before route sync existed, the button reads Reconnect; you need to do it again.
- Pick routes for the watch in the Flow app under Devices, then Add/remove, or on the Flow website's Favorites page, then sync the watch.
What reaches Strava
- Sessions recorded on a Polar watch or the Polar Beat app, sent when you sync through the Flow app, FlowSync on a computer, or Polar Beat
- Sessions with sample data from at least one of GPS, heart rate, altitude, cadence or power (Polar's rule for what qualifies; neither company lists field by field what arrives).
- Privacy carries over: if your Polar Flow account is private, the activities land on Strava as Private.
What comes back from Strava
- Routes you create or star on Strava, into your Flow favorites and then onto the watch, up to 100
- Starred segments as Strava Live Segments for running and cycling, with an approach alert and your PR to race
Limitations and gotchas
- Calories don't transfer. Strava works out its own, and it needs power data for rides and your weight for runs to do it.
- Manually added sessions don't sync, and neither do ones that reached Flow from somewhere else: Polar Club, MyFitnessPal, polarpersonaltrainer.com or Polar ProTrainer 5.
- No backfill. Sessions that were in Flow before you connected stay there unless you export them and upload them to Strava by hand.
- Routes are for route-capable watches only. Both companies list the Grit X, Grit X Pro, Grit X2 Pro, Pacer Pro, Vantage V, Vantage V2, Vantage V3, V650 and V800. Polar's page adds the Grit X2, Street X and Vantage M3, which Strava's list leaves out.
- Newer models (Grit X2, Grit X2 Pro, Street X, Vantage M3, Vantage V3) take routes only through the Flow app, not FlowSync on a computer. Strava's page names only two of them.
- The two sides give different Live Segments caps. Strava says 20 at a time; Polar says a current watch holds 100 favorites, and gives 20 only for the V650. Live Segments need GPS on in your run and ride sport profiles.
- Downhill segments never transfer. Polar puts the cutoff at an average grade below -0.25%; Strava says even the slightest negative grade counts, so some segments showing 0% won't sync.
- Removing a route from the watch in Flow doesn't unstar it on Strava. To clear it everywhere, unstar it on Strava and refresh the list in Flow.
- If Flow says you have no Strava subscription right after you bought one, Strava says to wait 24 hours, update the Flow app, then disconnect and reconnect.
- Several Polar Flow accounts can feed one Strava account, so a second Polar login doesn't need a second Strava account.
Sources
- Strava Help Center: Polar and Strava
- Strava Help Center: Syncing Strava routes to your Polar device
- Strava Help Center: Strava Live Segments on Polar devices
- Strava Help Center: Strava Live Segments compatible devices
- Polar support: How can I automatically sync my data from Polar Flow to Strava?
- Polar support: Using Strava routes with Polar devices
- Polar support: Using Strava Live Segments with Grit X, Pacer, Street X and Vantage
- Polar support: Using Strava Live Segments with V650
Checked against those sources on October 10, 2026. Integrations change; if something here is out of date, tell us.