Breaking: Strava Sues Garmin Over API Logo Mandate, Citing User Experience Degradation

In a significant development for the sports technology industry, Strava has filed a lawsuit against Garmin, publicly detailing its reasons in a recent Reddit post. The core of the dispute revolves around new developer guidelines from Garmin, which Strava claims would force the integration of a Garmin logo on virtually all activity posts, screens, and sharing cards across its platform.

Matt Salazar, Strava’s chief product officer, took to Reddit yesterday to explain the company’s litigation, stating that Garmin’s updated API guidelines, announced on July 1, 2025, mandate the logo inclusion. According to Salazar, platforms utilizing Garmin’s API, which facilitates the automatic transfer of activity data from Garmin Connect to Strava, have until November 1, 2025, to comply or face a cutoff of API access, halting all Garmin activity uploads to Strava.

Strava asserts that complying with these new guidelines would amount to “blatant advertising” and would “actively degrade” the user experience for its 150 million-plus athletes. Salazar emphasized Strava’s commitment to user data ownership, stating, “If you recorded an activity on your watch, we think that is your data.” He argued that users should be able to transfer data freely without mandatory logos or its use for advertising. Strava already provides attribution for data partners but views the logo requirement as an unacceptable step, suggesting Garmin prioritizes marketing over user experience.

Adding to its claims, Strava highlights a perceived double standard, noting that Garmin Connect does not provide data attribution for third-party devices like heart-rate monitors or power meters. Strava claims to have attempted to resolve the situation with Garmin over the past five months, proposing less intrusive attribution methods, but to no avail.

Curiously, Garmin’s current API guidelines suggest that while device model attribution is mandatory, the inclusion of its logo is optional. Garmin has declined to comment on the pending litigation.

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