Is there an easy way to contribute from my phone? If I could just turn the GPS on and let it track my path I’d be able to contribute all of my random hikes that might not be on OSM.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/traces
That won't get them into the OpenStreetMap database, but it makes them available (if you set them to public) for anyone looking to add the trails.
There's also apps like StreetComplete. It has 'challenges', where it prompts you for answers to questions and updates OpenStreetMap accordingly (so what is the surface type of a road, things like that).
Vespucci is a full featured editor for Android.
On the left side you have a list of apps/devices with guides and summaries
It asks the difficulty level, time you'd like to spend, and whether you want to map at home or on the terrain.
Do you have a list of such tools? Do you have a source for attributing this to malice rather than ignorance?
Now, my personal opinion on mobile editing: Vespucci is a bit complex, but basically allows you to do anything on the go. I ususally save GPX tracks using OSMAnd, but it can be heavy on the battery.
I have GPS traces for a number of Amtrak routes across America. I wonder if those would be useful.