I use an old phone that runs Android 4 to make GPS traces while walking. At home, I use the iD editor to load the GPS traces and update OpenStreetMap.

Apps I use and recommend:

GPSLogger by mendhak. Get it on Github or on F-Droid.

This app has never let me down, over thousands of GPS points logged. I use v99; some newer versions will probably still work with Android 4.

GPSTest by Dr. Sean Barbeau. Get it on Google Play or F-Droid (recent versions), or on Github (all versions).

I use this to “warm up” the GPS receiver in the phone, especially if it has been a few months since I used it. (The phone no longer has cell service, so it can no longer get an updated GPS almanac or ephemeris via mobile data.) I use version 3.2.10; newer versions should probably still work with Android 4.

Apps I use:

OsmAnd, free version. Get it from OsmAnd.

It’s useful for offline maps, since the phone I use no longer has cell service. However, it seems to restart itself occasionally as I walk around, so I don’t know if I would trust its GPS tracing capability. Running GPSLogger (for the trace) and OsmAnd (for map display) at the same time works just fine. I use version 4.0.9, as that’s the last version that will still work with Android 4. However, downloading map data from within the app does not work, due to this bug - the fix for it has not been backported to older versions of OsmAnd, as of 2024-02. To get map data, go to https://download.osmand.net/list.php in a web browser, download the files for the areas you are interested in, unzip them, and transfer them to your phone.