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Fitness apps and watches: who sees your activity

Last checked: 23 Oct 2026

Running, cycling and walking apps record where you went, when, and often your heart rate. On Strava and Garmin Connect, other people may see your routes, including where they start and finish. Fitbit (now the Google Health app) and Apple Health let you share your data with friends, family and other apps. Here's where each setting is.

Strava

Strava has separate settings for your profile, your activities and your maps. Strava says new accounts start with the profile and activities set to Everyone, and the first and last 200 metres of each map hidden. Hiding part of the map doesn't change who can see the activity: you need both settings.

Strava privacy settings

Hide your start and end points (Map Visibility)

Hide the area near an address you enter, hide the start and end of every activity wherever it is, or hide the whole map. Strava says you can hide up to a 1-mile (1.6 km) radius.

On the website: profile picture → Settings → Privacy Controls → Map Visibility, under "Additional Controls". The address option covers past and future activities, except any whose map you've edited one by one; the other two only cover future ones. Strava's heatmap guide still calls these privacy zones.

Hide the map on one activity

Use the sliders to hide more or less of the start and end, or turn on Hide the Entire Map. This overrides your default for that activity.

Who can see your activities

Sets the default for new activities. Followers and Only You keep the activity off public leaderboards (the lists of times on segments, stretches of road or trail where people compare times). Only You means nobody else can open it.

It doesn't change past activities. On the website: profile picture → Settings → Privacy Controls.

Change all your past activities at once

Applies the visibility you choose to every past activity. You can do the same for heart rate (Heart Rate Visibility).

Strava says moving activities from Everyone to Followers or Only You removes their segment achievements.

Who can see your profile

With Followers, people must ask to follow you, and non-followers see a limited profile: mainly your photo, bio and follower numbers. Strava says this also stops search engines from seeing your profile. It may stay in search results until the search engine updates.

Strava says your name, bio and follower numbers are always visible, and there's no way to hide your profile completely.

Hide start time, heart rate and other details

Sets which of start time, pace, speed, calories, power and heart rate are hidden from others on new activities.

Strava says others may still work out hidden details, for example your start time from someone you were out with.

Flyby

Flyby replays your activity on a map alongside other people who were nearby. Strava says new accounts start with No One.

Your activities only appear in Flyby if both the activity and this setting are Everyone.

Group activities

Choose who can see that you were out with other people. Strava's pages call the most private option "Only You" on one page and "No One" on another.

This applies to all your activities, past and new; Strava says it can't be set for single activities.

Heatmaps and other shared data (Product Improvements)

Stops your activities being used for the Global Heatmap, Strava Metro (a service for city planners), Points of Interest, "smarter AI features" and new features. Strava says the heatmap and Metro use combined data with identifying details removed.

This setting used to be called "Aggregated data usage". Strava says it's also in the app's privacy settings and is on for new accounts.

Apps connected to Strava

Shows which apps can read your Strava data. Strava says you can remove (revoke) their access from this page.

Delete your Strava account

Strava sends a confirmation email. In the app: Settings → Help → Delete Your Account (iPhone) or Settings → Delete Your Account (Android).

Strava says public segments and routes you created stay on Strava unless you delete them first.

Apps you connect to Strava can see the parts of your map you've hidden. Strava says hidden parts "will be visible to others on third party services you have authorized", so check those apps' privacy settings too.

Strava says hiding part of a map doesn't make it impossible for someone to work out the hidden place from other information. Segment times that start or end in a hidden part don't go on public leaderboards.

Strava's pages disagree on one point. Strava Metro and the Global Heatmap are built from many people's activities combined, with names removed. One page says activities set to Followers are still included in Strava Metro; another says only Everyone activities are used. Turning off Product Improvements covers both.

Garmin Connect

Garmin Connect has a privacy setting for your account and one for each activity. Garmin says that when you first link Strava, the past year of Garmin activities is copied to Strava, then every new one. Set your Strava privacy as well (above).

Garmin Connect privacy settings

Your account's privacy settings

Sets who can see your profile and activities by default.

On the website: your avatar (Profile & Account) → Account Settings → Privacy Settings. Garmin's page doesn't list the choices; another Garmin page names "Only Me".

Privacy for one activity

Choose who can view that activity, then save. On the website, open the activity and select the padlock icon; it saves straight away.

Privacy zones (hide your start and end)

Enter an address or pick a spot on the map and set the zone size. On publicly shared activities that start inside the zone, others see the route start at the zone's edge, and the end is hidden too if you finish inside it.

Garmin's page only gives steps for the website.

Followers Challenges

Garmin says your daily steps and activity distance are visible to others in a Followers Challenge "even if" your account is set to "Only Me".

Stop sharing with Strava (in Garmin)

Ends the link, so new Garmin activities stop going to Strava.

On the website: Profile & Account → Account Settings → Account Information → under Applications, Strava → Disconnect. The same list holds other linked apps, such as MyFitnessPal and Zwift.

Stop sharing with Garmin (in Strava)

Ends the link from the Strava side. On the Strava website: Settings → Social Connections → Disconnect under Garmin Connect.

These are Garmin's steps. Strava's own Garmin page only says to select "disconnect" in Settings, or to turn off the "Activities" permission for Strava in Garmin Connect to stop automatic syncing.

Delete your Garmin account

Deletes your data for every Garmin service that uses the account, including Garmin Connect. Garmin says it usually takes about 48 hours, but can take up to 30 days, and can't be stopped once started.

Fitbit (now the Google Health app)

Google's help pages say the Fitbit app became the Google Health app on 19 May 2026, and that Fitbit data is now kept with your Google Account. Google says this health data won't be used for Google Ads.

Google Health (Fitbit) settings

Move a Fitbit login to a Google Account

Google says Fitbit logins stopped working after 19 May 2026, and the account has to be moved to a Google Account to keep using it. Google says the move can't be undone.

For accounts that weren't moved, Google said you could download or delete your data until it began processing deletions on 15 July 2026.

Delete some or all of your data

Delete today's data, all data of that type, or a date range, then tap Confirm and Delete.

Optional features

Turn off features such as irregular heart rhythm notifications, ECG (heart recordings), Cycle health, AI insights, medical records sync and Google Health Coach.

Google says data from the time you used a feature stays until you delete it (above).

What friends see

Turn off sharing your steps and Cardio Load scores on friends' leaderboards. Google says friends see your Google Account name, photo and email address.

Apps connected to Google Health

Google says you can tap an app here "to manage the connection". For Strava, Activity writing chooses which activity types are sent.

Google's page doesn't name a disconnect button.

Delete Google Health (Fitbit) from your Google Account

Deletes the service and its data but not your Google Account. Google says your data is deleted after 30 days, and signing in before then gets it back.

Google says it can take up to 90 days to remove everything, including backups. Cancel any Premium subscription where you bought it, and erase the watch or tracker separately.

Delete an old Fitbit-login account

After you confirm by email, Google says the account is switched off for 7 days and then permanently deleted.

Before giving away a Fitbit, erase it on the device itself: deleting your account doesn't erase what's stored on the watch or tracker. The steps differ by model; see Google's erase guide in the sources.

Apple Health

Apple says Health data on your iPhone is encrypted (scrambled) and can't be read while the phone is locked with a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID. If you sync Health through iCloud, Apple says it's end-to-end encrypted, meaning only your own devices can read it, not Apple. That needs iOS 12 or later and two-factor authentication (a code as well as your password) on your Apple Account.

Apple Health settings

Which apps can read or add Health data

Turn each type of data on or off, for reading from Health and for adding to it. Choose Devices instead of Apps for watches and other devices.

These are the iOS 27 steps. Apple's support article says "Profile button" instead of your picture.

Stop sharing with a person

Apple says their phone then deletes the past data you shared from their Health app. To check what they see, tap View Shared Data.

Apple says removing someone from your contacts doesn't stop sharing.

Stop sharing with a doctor or hospital (US only)

Apple says they can no longer get your data this way, but they may keep what they already have in their records.

Apple's iOS 26 guide says sharing with your doctor is US only. The iOS 27 guide doesn't mention it.

Delete Health data

Deletes the records you pick, or all of them. Apple gives these steps for data you entered yourself. Apple says that if Health syncs through iCloud, deleting on one device deletes on all of them.

Stop storing Health data in iCloud and delete it there

Stops syncing Health to iCloud and removes the copy there.

Copy your data before deleting

Saves all your Health data as a file you can keep.

Deleting the Health app doesn't delete your data. Apple says the data stays on your iPhone, and apps and people you shared with keep what you already shared.

Samsung Health

Samsung Health data

Download your data

Downloads a copy of your Samsung Health data.

Erase your data

Samsung says this permanently deletes your Samsung Health data on the phone and on Samsung's servers. You can't sign in until it's finished.

This is Samsung's US page; we couldn't find a UK one. We didn't find a Samsung page giving the steps for its data-sharing settings.

For your phone's own location history, and family location apps such as Life360, see location history and sharing.

Sources

This page describes your options and how organisations say they handle requests. It isn't legal advice. See About & sourcing, or report a correction.