On late night bike rides, it sometimes feels like something is following you. When you’re running alone when it’s dark out, sometimes there is a nagging pit in your stomach. You made sure to tell someone where you were going before you left, but now you’re alone.
Strava, a social network for athletes, is working to eliminate that feeling and improve athlete safety with the Beacon safety feature.
Beacon, which recently launched for the iPhone and Android, shares an athlete’s locations with up to three emergency contacts who receive a special text message with a URL when the athletes begin their workout. The URL allows contacts to track the person on a map in real-time. It also shows if the athlete’s battery power is waning.
Now, at the click of a URL, athletes can feel a sense of security knowing that a loved one not only knows that they are out exercising, but knows exactly where they are.
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Strava announced Thursday that Beacon will be integrated into select Garmin cycling computers and running watches. Garmin is a technology company based in Switzerland.
“We received a lot of positive feedback when we introduced Beacon this summer,” Strava chief product officer Aaron Forth said in a statement. “We also had lots of athletes say they wanted to use Beacon with their Garmin devices. We’re happy to see that Beacon has become so valuable so quickly, and excited to extend Beacon’s safety benefits to Garmin athletes.”