However there are times that a rider may want to get a workout in without broadcasting to the world.
It is often possible with videogaming to select at start of the game between online multiplayer and solo/campaign mode - I wonder about adding a button or option at the startup screen to allow a user to ride solo versus in the multiplayer enviornment?
Here’s a typical use case - a person who may have had a light day at the office, who is entitled to go home early, and whose boss may have listed them as a “favorite” in Zwift. That notification that the boss receives “xx is Zwifting now” is a giveaway! And while there is nothing “illegal” in this case, it does open the door for commentary and guilt-tripping
LOL - good point! I guess it helps that I’m a co-boss in this scenario … this conversation happened when a staff member and I had a “water cooler conversation” about some mildlly irritating behaviors of another member of the management team …
I dont know if this would work for anyone else, but I have found that setting my router firewall settings to anything above the Low setting will not allow Zwift Companion to connect. It also will not allow other riders to show up on the map, essentially letting me ride the route alone. Very handy on days when I’m not feeling social.
Please add a privacy setting for this. I made all my activities private for me only and it still is sending out notifications to other people. This setting apparently doesn’t turn off the notifications that you are currently zwifting which is what I really wanted. I don’t care if someone sees my activities, but having notifications telling people when I’m doing something in real time is creepy.
FWIW, I think the notification only happens if you have tagged someone as a favorite. I only tested this feature recently for the first time and noticed this is what happens. I feel creepy everytime it pings me as well. I like the ability to filter activities to my favorites but not so much the pinging piece. It seems its an (un)intended function of that setting. Happy to vote for a revisiting of what options are available here.
There does seem to be a slightly clunky workaround to this which I have briefly tested by creating a new account:
Open Zwift as normal until you get the main menu screen
Choose your world/route etc but don’t press ‘RIDE’ just yet
Disconnect your internet
Press ‘RIDE’ - it takes much longer to load than normal, it’s probably trying to contact a server and then timing out (this is when the notification would normally be sent to people who have added you as a favourite)
Once you see your avatar you can reconnect the internet if you want to see everyone else around you
The only big problem I’ve found is when joining events - the notification is sent again as you join, and I haven’t manage to get around this in my tests so far.
Just be aware that if your follower looks at their companion app then they may see that you are zwifting (unless you keep the internet disconnected). Also you may want to save your ride as ‘Private’ when you finish it.
Nudging this request and this thread - I’d love to be able to choose “incognito” so that no one knows I’m pedaling.
Sometimes you just want to “do it alone” and not get Ride Ons and not have someone possibly join you and not have people chat at you.
Not sure why this wouldn’t make sense as an option at the start of a ride.
and one more thought (hopefully just one more!!!) if having incognito riders be in races / group rides would be a problem - fine - don’t let incognito riders choose to be in an event. In my case at least, an incognito ride would probably be some kind of long thoughtful and painful solo ride anyway.
+1 sometimes I wonder how this feature could have been implemented this way without a toggle to stop notification out… I think it is contrary to every privacy common sense. And I don’t often take privacy so seriously, but this use case is very common in these WFH times.
Add one more request for this feature. Setting activities to ‘private’ is completely useless when others get notifications when I start riding. And it’s creepy to get those Ride Ons as soon as I start riding!
I guess it helps that I’m a co-boss in this scenario 
… this conversation happened when a staff member and I had a “water cooler conversation” about some mildlly irritating behaviors of another member of the management team …