There are tons of running apps out there, but only a few stand out. Nike Run Club is free, fun, and never boring. Runna forces you to check all the boxes on its structured programs, making you faster and stronger. But the best running app of all is the one with mapping tools, in-depth performance analysis, and social features your friends actually use. That’s right: Strava just can’t be beat.

And I say this knowing that it has its issues. Privacy in particular: unless you find and adjust all the privacy settings, you could end up exposing more personal information than you intended. It seems like every new feature brings new privacy issues, like the weekly heatmap that launched earlier this year, which made individual runners in less populated areas stick out like sore thumbs.

But the privacy issues only exist because Strava has social and mapping features; and the social and mapping features are the best parts of Strava. Do I think Strava is a good company that only does responsible things? No, not really. But I’ve adjusted my privacy settings and I’m having fun with the app, working my way up the segment leaderboards and using the route finding tools when I travel. So let me explain what Strava offers that other running apps don’t, and I’ll go over all the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself whether you want to join me.

As we go along, I’ll point out where I talk about free features and where you’ll need to subscribe to get the good stuff. Many of Strava’s best features are behind a paywall, but the free version is pretty great too. The premium plan is $11.99 a month or $79.99 a year, with discounts for students and families.