Quick answer: Partly. You can compete with friends on Strava, but clubs rank distance or time from recorded activities, and Strava counts steps only inside recorded walks, hikes and runs. Steps from a normal day without pressing record don’t count. For an everyday step challenge, compare daily totals from Apple Health or Health Connect.
What a Strava club counts
A Strava club is free to create and join, and it comes with a weekly leaderboard. A club for one sport ranks members by total distance. A multisport club ranks them by total time. The board resets at 11:59 pm on Sunday in the club’s time zone, so a club week already runs Monday to Sunday (Strava Support: Clubs on Strava).
Only recorded activities that match the club’s sport count. Activities set to “Only You” and flagged activities stay off the board (Strava Support: club leaderboards). If your group wants to compare runs, rides or long walks by distance, a club does that well.
Does Strava count your everyday steps?
Not as a daily total. Strava’s help page says: “Currently, steps are only available for walking, hiking, and running activities” (Strava Support: Steps on Strava). Steps show up on an activity you record. The walk to the station, an afternoon of errands or a day on your feet at work won’t appear unless someone pressed record.
That matters for a step challenge. A friend who walks a lot during a normal day but never records a walk would score nothing on a Strava board, even with a busy week in their phone’s health app.
What about Strava group challenges?
Group challenges are Strava’s closest feature to a challenge between friends. According to Strava’s help page, you can pick Most Activity, Fastest Effort, Longest Single Activity or Group Goal. Most Activity and Group Goal measure time, distance, elevation gain or elevation loss. Steps aren’t one of the listed goals.
To create or join one, each person needs a Strava subscription or a free trial. The creator can invite up to 199 athletes who follow them on Strava (Strava Support: How do group challenges work). For a group where not everyone pays for Strava, that’s worth checking before you send the invite.
Strava facts on this page come from Strava’s own help pages, accessed 16 and 17 October 2026. Strava changes features over time, so check those pages for the current rules.
What Strava counts and what a step challenge counts
| Question | Strava club | Step challenge with health app totals |
|---|---|---|
| What is ranked? | Distance for one sport, time for multisport | Steps |
| Do steps from a normal day count? | No, only recorded activities | Yes, the whole day’s total in Apple Health or Health Connect |
| Does a recorded walk count? | Yes, as distance or time | Yes, its steps are part of the day’s total |
| What does each person do? | Start a recording for each activity | Carry a phone, or wear a watch that saves to the health app |
| When does the week end? | Sunday 11:59 pm, club time zone | Whenever the group agrees, usually Sunday evening |
| Does it cost anything? | Clubs are free. Group challenges need a subscription or a free trial. | No. A group chat and the challenge generator are free. |
Three ways to run a step challenge with Strava friends
You don’t need to pick one app. Most groups that already use Strava can keep it and add a step total on top.
- Keep the Strava club, add a weekly step total. Record walks and runs on Strava as usual. On Sunday evening, everyone also posts their Monday-to-Sunday step total from Apple Health or Health Connect. Two leaderboards, two kinds of winner.
- Run the step challenge in your group chat. The challenge generator builds a one-week brief with dates, a scoring rule and a check-in time to paste into the chat. It works for friends who don’t use Strava at all.
- Use both apps side by side from launch. Keep Strava for recorded activities and the club board, and use MovePeeps for the group’s daily step totals. More on that below.
One rule saves arguments: use the health app total only, and don’t add the steps Strava shows for a walk on top. If you carried your phone or wore your watch, those steps are usually already in the day’s total.
Paste this invite in the group chat
Copy this and change the times if you like:
Step challenge this week, Monday to Sunday. Keep recording on Strava if you like, the club board stays as it is. For this one, your score is your daily step total in Apple Health (iPhone) or Health Connect (Android), so every step counts, recorded or not. Don’t add Strava’s walk steps on top. Post your week total by Sunday 20:00, late syncs are fine until Monday 12:00. Highest total wins, and the winner picks next week’s rule.
If someone has a much bigger week because of a long run, try a fairer rule next round. Most consistent days rewards walking on more days, and best balance counts each day up to 5,000 steps. The fair rules guide has more options.
Where MovePeeps fits
The MovePeeps app is planned for 1 December 2026 on iPhone and Android, free at launch. It is being built for the everyday steps part of this: after each member gives permission, it will read their daily step total from Apple Health or Health Connect, so nobody has to start a recording or post a screenshot. A phone on its own will be enough, and a watch counts when its app saves steps to Apple Health or Health Connect.
Use both apps. Strava stays the place for routes, recorded activities and your club. MovePeeps is meant for a private group of two to eight people who want to compare plain step totals each week. Until launch, the group chat invite above does the same job by hand.
Plan your first round
Planned for 1 December, iPhone and Android, free at launch. The MovePeeps app will run private step challenges for two to eight people. Rounds run Monday to Sunday, for one week or a few in a row, and the group picks the scoring: most steps, most consistent days, or best balance with a daily cap. Steps come from Apple Health on iPhone or Health Connect on Android, so a phone is enough, and a watch counts if it saves its steps there.
Want to start sooner? Use the challenge generator to copy a plan into your group chat, or join the waitlist for the launch email and a beta invite if there’s a spot. We don’t send newsletters.
If a step total looks delayed or an invite does not work, visit MovePeeps support. See the privacy policy for what the app reads and shares.