Questions, answered.

Most watches and apps let you export a single activity as a file. Garmin hides it the deepest, so we wrote a step-by-step guide for it. On Coros, Suunto and phone apps, look for a Share or Export GPX button on the activity itself.

Once you have the file, drop it on the upload page and PaddleScout does the rest.

Both describe where you went. Your watch records FIT, the richer format: it keeps heart rate, power and cadence alongside the track. GPX is simpler and more widely supported, so most apps can produce it, but it carries only the route, time and elevation.

Upload whichever you have. If your watch offers FIT, prefer it. PaddleScout reads the extra detail when it is there and does without when it is not.

Anything that exports a GPX or FIT file, which covers most watches and apps:

• Garmin watches and Garmin Connect (FIT or GPX). See the guide below.
• Coros and Suunto watches and their apps (GPX, sometimes FIT).
• Phone apps such as Strava, Komoot and Paddle Logger (GPX).

Up to 20 MB per upload, more than a full day on the water needs. A bigger file is usually a bulk export of several activities. Export the single paddle on its own and it will fit.

Yes. Every paddle you upload stays private to you until you change it. We don't index it, advertise it, or put it on a public profile, and there are no follower counts. Privacy is the default; you don't switch it on.

Only the people you choose. You set each paddle's visibility, and you can change it any time:

• Private: only you. This is the default for every upload.
• Unlisted: reachable through the unguessable share link you send, and no one else. We never list it, index it, or make it searchable.
• Public: your friends see it in their feed, and anyone you send the link to can open it. There is still no public directory and no follower count, so nothing reaches strangers.