It's no secret that apps and programs on your smartphone have a lot of information about you, and now some of them are letting you broadcast some of that information to the world. Facebook Live is a good example of this friendly, social intrusion, but it wasn't the first example of this, and it certainly won't be the last. But rather than just exploiting the social aspect of these features, some companies are figuring out how to make broadcasting personal information work for the broadcaster. Strava is the latest company to do this with a new feature called Strava Beacon, which lets athletes share their real-time location with anyone they want.

This is mostly a safety feature—when Beacon is activated, users can go into the Strava app and select three contacts they want to send a notification text to with their location. The contacts can be anyone in their smartphone, so you’re not limited to just Strava user friends. Once selected, a text message will form, either with Strava’s default language or your own custom message, with a link to a real-time map of your location. The link leads to a page on Strava’s website where the people you sent the link to can see where you are as you move throughout your run or ride.

The link will always open in a browser, so your recipients don’t need to have the Strava app—or even be a Strava user—to see your location. This will come in handy for those parents and relatives who aren’t into fitness or who aren’t too tech savvy. The link also isn’t limited to the three contacts you choose within the Strava Beacon feature. You can copy and paste the link anywhere you want, but Strava advises caution when doing this. Common sense is key—if you don’t want strangers seeing where you are, maybe don’t post the link to Facebook or Twitter.

Other fitness apps have features similar to Strava Beacon. Garmin has its LiveTrack feature, but it only broadcasts your real-time location while you're running or cycling to other Garmin Connect users. It also provides a link you can send out via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter, but the feature is mostly used among Garmin device users to enhance the social aspect of activity tracking. Strava developed Beacon to be a safety-first feature, with the flexibility of being a social feature if you want to send out your live location to others that know you're cycling or running.

The one downside is that this is a feature for Strava Premium users or those who pay $6/£4 per month for a beefed-up version of the cycling app. It's unfortunate that such a potentially helpful safety feature lies behind a paywall, although it's not surprising. There's no doubt that Strava is hoping Beacon will encourage long-time users to upgrade to premium and maybe even convince other athletes to switch over to Strava for the peace of mind that Beacon offers. Strava Premium users can access Beacon starting today.