What Flyby actually shows
Flyby is a map-and-timeline replay of activities recorded near each other. It is a viewing layer built on top of activities that are already visible, not a separate copy of your data. That distinction matters: switching off your own Flyby participation limits how you appear in that replay, but it does not decide who can open your activity pages in the first place.
Step 1: Change your Flyby setting
Strava exposes Everyone and No One choices for Flyby in Privacy Controls on the web and under Flybys in the app. Source
A practical order for the web:
- Open Privacy Controls in your Strava account settings on the web.
- Find the Flyby option and select No One if you do not want to appear in Flybys.
- Save the change and reload the page to confirm the selection stuck.
In the app, the same choice sits under Flybys. If you cannot find it, check that you are in the privacy area of settings rather than an individual activity’s edit screen.
Step 2: Understand what No One does and does not do
Strava says No One hides the athlete from Flybys, including their own view; Flyby inclusion also depends on the activity’s Everyone visibility and an unhidden start time. Source
Two limits are worth stating plainly:
- Visibility still gates Flyby. If an activity is not visible to everyone, it will not appear in Flybys regardless of your Flyby choice. So the Flyby setting is not the only thing that controls your presence there.
- Start-time hiding matters too. If your activity start time is hidden, Flyby inclusion is affected. Hiding a start time is a separate action from the Flyby toggle.
Neither point means every location clue disappears from your account. A public activity page can still carry route and timing information depending on how that activity is configured. Flyby is one surface, not a full location-privacy switch.
The control matrix: two settings, two jobs
Use this table to keep the two decisions apart. Each row is a separate control with a separate effect.
| Control | Where it lives | What it changes | What it does not change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flyby participation | Privacy Controls (web) or Flybys (app) | Whether you appear in the Flyby replay, including your own view when set to No One | Who can see your activity pages |
| Activity visibility | Each activity’s privacy setting | Who can open that activity | Whether you appear in Flybys, which also depends on visibility and start-time settings |
| Start-time visibility | Activity privacy options | Whether the start time is shown | The Flyby toggle itself |
Read the table as a checklist, not a sequence. Setting Flyby to No One while leaving activities public is a coherent choice, and so is the reverse. What is not coherent is assuming one setting covers the other.
Step 3: Review ordinary activity visibility separately
After changing Flyby, go through your activities and decide, for each one, who should be able to see it. Questions that help:
- Does this activity start or end somewhere I would not point to on a map? If so, that is a visibility question, not a Flyby question.
- Was this recorded with someone else? Visibility affects who can see the activity, but it does not by itself establish who was present. Do not treat a shared route as proof of companionship.
- Is the start time visible? If not, note that this affects Flyby inclusion as well as what viewers see on the activity.
For past activities, review the ones you care about most first rather than trying to audit everything at once. There is no single switch that retroactively rewrites every activity’s audience.
Common failure paths
| Situation | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| You set Flyby to No One but still worry about exposure | Flyby was never the main exposure surface | Activity visibility and start-time settings on each activity |
| You cannot find the Flyby option | Looking in the wrong settings area | Privacy Controls on web, Flybys in the app |
| You hid your start time and expected Flyby to change | Two separate controls | Confirm the Flyby selection itself |
| You want to check whether a username appears publicly elsewhere | Different task entirely | A public username lookup, with the limits below |
A note on username lookups
If your concern extends beyond Strava to whether a username appears on other public sites, TraceSeek is an optional tool for checking known public usernames across 3,000+ platforms. It reports public matches, which are leads rather than proof of ownership, and it cannot change account settings, access private accounts, verify a real identity, or guarantee that anything is erased. It is not a substitute for the Strava settings above.
What this guide does not promise
- It does not claim that every location clue disappears after any setting change.
- It does not identify any other athlete’s home or infer who was with whom.
- It does not describe platform menus beyond the Flyby controls named in the approved sources; if your interface differs, check the current Strava help pages.
A short recap
Flyby and activity visibility are two controls with two jobs. Set Flyby to No One if you do not want to appear in the replay, then review each activity’s visibility and start-time settings on their own. Treat public username matches elsewhere as leads, not confirmation.