It could be both. I'm no techie but maybe your phone plays well with trailforks and not with strava.
I don't really see how it could be that.
the raw data both apps are using will be the exact same data that comes from the phone's hardware. the question is what does each app actually DO with that data? because MOST gps apps out there are doing a good bit of extra processing. there's a lot of noise in GPS data that needs to be dealt with. We saw this quite a bit in the early days of GPS tech, when there would be outlier points MILES away from where you actually were among other things. some of this was handled by better hardware, but some of it has been handled by better software, too. processing multipath (reflected) signals is a biggie. this is the biggest reason why signal under heavy forest cover is better now than it used to be. The gps signal bounces around off of the leaves and branches the same as it always has, but the software does a better job of distinguishing the reflected signals from the "true" signal direct from the satellites now than it used to. My first attempt at using GPS to record a trail's path over 20yrs ago was an epic disaster. the track looked like a bowl of spaghetti...even worse than what folks are showing here as outputs from the Strava app.
I think using two apps at the same time on the same phone does a great job of showing that this is indeed something wrong with the strava app and not an environmental condition issue or a hardware issue (though comparing phone app with a dedicated gps receiver at the same time might eliminate environmental conditions as a factor, it doesn't eliminate differences between apps on the same phone as a factor). the fact that multiple people are having trouble and yet also showing where dedicated receivers are also fine just reinforces that something is wrong with the strava app.
I have a few KOMs from GPS errors. Not Strava, though. I was recording with a Garmin Oregon handheld GPS and had a couple of time errors in the file.
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The last one is funny because that climb is a forced hike-a-bike. I think it's funny that nobody ever reported one (or both) of the two obviously errored KOMs (which would have flagged the whole ride and taken away all of the segment rankings). But I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that the trail legitimately sucked. I just checked those Strava segments and only 12 people tops have posted matched rides at most (some segments fewer than that because I guess some folks bailed on the trail before completing a full lap). So the pool of people to possibly report an erroneous ride is VERY small. And the trail closed over a decade ago precisely because it sucked so much (earliest rides there were in 2010 and the last I see was 2012). It looks to me like most of the posted Strava activities for these segments came from a race in 2011, even. So there won't be any more in the future and I will NEVER lose my KOMs!
😈😈
