A French Navy officer accidentally leaked the location of an aircraft carrier by recording his flight on Strava

A French Navy officer went for a run on the deck of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and uploaded his workout to Strava, inadvertently leaking the location of the nuclear-powered warship as it headed to the Middle East.

French newspaper Le Monde first reported that this story is not an anomaly, as this popular fitness tracking app has proven to be a privacy nightmare before.

By default, accounts on the Social Fitness app are set to public, which will make your route public any time you log a workout. Strava data has previously been used to determine the locations of military bases around the world. In 2024, Le Monde revealed the whereabouts of French President Emmanuel Macron by searching the Strava accounts of his bodyguards, who uploaded public training data while traveling with him.

Macron had publicly announced the deployment of the aircraft carrier, so its movement across the Mediterranean was already known. But it is clear that the French army is still in grave danger when an officer communicates its precise location. A representative of the French Armed Forces told Le Monde newspaper that the officer’s behavior “does not comply with current guidelines,” which sailors are “regularly informed about.”

Strava did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment before publication, but let this serve as a reminder to everyone; Even if you’re not in the military, it might be worth setting your Strava account to private.