synch to strava app by itself without open gc?

The sync to Strava got nothing to do with the Connect or Strava apps or your watch. Everything is done by the backend servers. As soon as your watch synced the activity to the servers at Garmin the activitiy is pushed to Strava.

Sometimes the sync to Strava is delayed.

Sometimes you need to open the app to initiate the sync between your watch and Garmin Connect. I always got my phone with me and as soon as I save an activity on my watch it tries to sync it. If the phone is not connected it might take some time before it connects and tries to sync.

Thanks for your clear explanation. I appreciated it :-)

I just want to understand better and clear.

thanks and 

Have a nice day!

Hello again,

After one week  it still had not happened at all even though every activity  I saved  on my watch. I  did three activities(run) for one week and it didn't synch auto to strava app. Then today I finally opened garmin connect app which I hadn't open for one week to let me test/see if my watch actually synch to strava like you mentioned it may be delayed but nothing happned  at all.  So today garmin connect was open and auto synch to strava.

I still don't understand why my watch didn't synch auto to strava at all although both (garmin connect and strava) are connected.

Did I miss something to do on my watch? I still don't know how it really worked auto synch to strava when I first used my watch.

thanks in advance.

Did you check if your logged activities synced to Garmin Connect before you opened the app? Check here: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activities 

The sync to Strava happens after the activities have synced to Garmin Connect servers on the internet. The app and watch are not involved at all in syncing to Strava.

This is how the data flows:

1. Log an activity on your watch and save.
2. The activity is synced to Garmin Connect servers on the internet with the help of the Garmin Connect app on your phone.
3. The servers will then push the activity to Strava or Strava will fetch the activity. I don't know exactly how it works, but it is servers on the internet talking to each others.
4. After the activity has synced to Strava servers you will see it in the Strava app on your phone.

8349452 said:

Then today I finally opened garmin connect app which I hadn't open for one week to let me test/see if my watch actually synch to strava like you mentioned it may be delayed but nothing happned  at all.  So today garmin connect was open and auto synch to strava.

I still don't understand why my watch didn't synch auto to strava at all although both (garmin connect and strava) are connected.

Well, I did not have my coffee today, so may be thinking too slow, but from the first sentence I understand that the activities synced all-right to Strava, once you started Garmin Connect and synced the activities from the watch to Garmin Connect (and hence to the servers, including Strava). 

Therefore I do not understand the question in the second paragraph, where you claim the activities did not sync to Connect and Strava. So which of the paragraphs is right? The first one, where you tell they did sync, or the second one, where you tell they did not?

And if you ask why they did not sync before you started the Connect app, then the answer is already included in the question - because you did not start Connect. The watch communicates with the servers only through Garmin Connect (unless you have a watch with Wi-Fi, and it can sync directly over it).

e7andy,

Thanks for your response. No, I never checked Garmin Connect website. I will check it right after my run.

Thanks

trux, 

First of all, I am sorry English is not my first language as mother language :-)

I am just new garmin since two weeks.  

Back to your question, let me summarize that every time I saved the activity on my watch, I was expecting it synch to strava app by itself but it never happened at all.   That is all what I am wondering why mine didn't work expect the first day I wore a new garmin watch and it synched to strava app automatically before I opened Garmin Connect app.

Lastly, e7andy insisted that the app and watch not involved at all in syncing to Strava. So I guess Wi-Fi is not reliable if I don't bring my iPhone with me.

Have a great day with coffee !

6363939 said:

So I guess Wi-Fi is not reliable if I don't bring my iPhone with me.

Wifi should work for syncing. Just make sure it really syncs the activities by checking in Garmin Connect Web. If it doesn't sync you will not get the activities to Strava.

6363939 said:

Lastly, e7andy insisted that the app and watch not involved at all in syncing to Strava. So I guess Wi-Fi is not reliable if I don't bring my iPhone with me.

It depends. If you have a watch with WiFi (not all Garmin models have that option), then it can indeed sync directly over the web, without the use of Garmin Connect. But if you were out, without your phone, and far from your home router, then I doubt you were connected to any WiFi network. Or have you been?

TL;DR: Wi-Fi auto upload only works for a certain amount of time after each activity. So if you go for a long run and you manage to connect to a wi-fi network 5 minutes after your run, it might automatically sync. If it you only connect to a wi-fi network an hour later, it won't automatically sync.

You can also manually initiate a wi-fi sync using the controls menu (unless bluetooth is also connected - in this case, you can disable bluetooth to force the watch to try to use wi-fi)

Another reason for wi-fi sync to fail is that your battery is too low.

trux said:

6363939 said:

Lastly, e7andy insisted that the app and watch not involved at all in syncing to Strava. So I guess Wi-Fi is not reliable if I don't bring my iPhone with me.

It depends. If you have a watch with WiFi (not all Garmin models have that option), then it can indeed sync directly over the web, without the use if Garmin Connect. But if you were out, without your phone, and far from your home router, then I doubt you were connected to any WiFi network. Or have you been?

To clarify all of this:

- The watch itself only syncs with Garmin Connect (the service, not just the app on your phone). (It helps to think of Garmin Connect as a service that Garmin provides, and the Connect app on your phone or the Garmin Connect website are just 2 ways to access it.)

- The watch can sync with Garmin Connect by by using Wi-Fi (no phone necessary) or by using the Connect app on your phone (requires a bluetooth connection between your watch and your phone.) Another way to sync is to use the USB cable and the Garmin Express app on a PC or Mac, but this is pretty rare these days.

- If Wi-Fi Auto Upload is enabled on your watch, then your watch will try to automatically sync with wi-fi for certain period of time after an activity ends. (I forget what it is - maybe 10 to 30 minutes?).

- You can also manually initiate a wi-fi sync by using the sync control in the controls menu on your watch (hold Light). Wi-Fi will be used as long bluetooth isn't connected (e.g. bluetooth is disabled or your phone is out of range)

(Wi-fi syncing won't work if the battery is too low - I think the cutoff is something like 20%)

- As mentioned, the app and the watch are not directly involved in syncing to Strava. Once your activity has been synced to Garmin Connect (no matter how it got there), it will be automatically pushed to Strava

To summarize:

Watch > Wi-Fi > Garmin Connect Servers > Strava

or

Watch > Bluetooth > Connect app on phone > Garmin Connect Servers > Strava

or

Watch > USB Cable > Garmin Express on PC/Mac > Garmin Connect Servers > Strava

The part between the Connect servers and Strava happens automatically.