Why IntervalCoach doesn't connect to Strava directly

IntervalCoach reads your training from the services that record it: Wahoo directly, or Intervals.icu, which in turn connects to Garmin, Polar, Zwift and many others. Strava is not one of them, for two reasons.

Are Intervals.icu and IntervalCoach the same thing? Do I pay for both?

They are two separate products from two different companies, and they are paid for separately. Intervals.icu is one of the services you can connect to IntervalCoach; you don't need it if you connect Wahoo. Paying one does not activate the other.

You do not need a paid Intervals.icu account to use IntervalCoach. A free Intervals.icu account is enough. All IntervalCoach needs is somewhere to read your activities from and a calendar to write your workouts to, and a free account does both.

If you have paid Intervals.icu believing it was IntervalCoach, that subscription is separate from anything here, and only Intervals.icu can refund it. Your IntervalCoach subscription lives under Settings > Subscription in this app, and that page is the only place an IntervalCoach payment ever appears.

Can I connect Strava to IntervalCoach directly?

No, and this is not a choice about which app to prefer. Strava's API terms restrict what third-party apps are allowed to do with your activity data, particularly anything AI-based, so a direct Strava connection is not something IntervalCoach is able to offer. It is tracked on the public roadmap if you would like to add your vote: Direct Strava integration.

You do not need one, though. Connect the device or platform that records your training: Wahoo directly, or anything else through Intervals.icu.

Strava doesn't expose the metrics a coach needs

IntervalCoach is built on structured training data: power and pace curves, estimated FTP, training load (Fitness, Fatigue, Form), and wellness data like HRV, resting heart rate, and sleep. Strava does not provide these in a usable form, while Intervals.icu calculates and stores all of them.

Getting your activities into IntervalCoach

If you ride or run with Wahoo, connect Wahoo directly (see "Connecting Wahoo"). For every other device or platform, connect it directly to Intervals.icu and connect Intervals.icu to IntervalCoach. The original device sends the full data, including power, heart rate, and GPS.

This includes indoor and virtual platforms. If you ride Zwift and own no head unit or watch, connect Zwift straight to Intervals.icu and you are fully set up: your rides arrive complete, and the structured workouts IntervalCoach writes to your Intervals.icu calendar sync back into Zwift.

You can connect Strava to Intervals.icu as well, but Strava passes along less detail than the original device, so connecting the device or platform directly is the more reliable route.

Once a source is connected, new activities show up in Intervals.icu (and therefore in IntervalCoach) automatically. Intervals.icu can also backfill your existing history from that source, so your past training comes through too.