Related to this: one of the very few good reasons to offer unencrypted HTTP is that in some parts of the world, old devices are in widespread use, and support for modern HTTPS cannot be taken for granted.
I believe you can work around this using another machine as an SSL proxy - though setting that up is beyond my ability. Perhaps someone else can elaborate?
https://dev.to/suntong/squid-proxy-and-ssl-interception-1oa4
- looks like it might be a useful guide for setting it up as an SSL proxy.
I took a deep dive into this after I was unable to access my blog on my iOS 6 device. I concluded that I don't really need a ssllab's A. It is much more likely someone will try visiting my blog with a older device than someone will MITM one of the visitors.
(I realize this sounds snobby. I'm mostly just actually curious how much that is a viable option)
I managed to install Firefox and a couple of apps by transferring the APKs from my phone using Bluetooth, but it's a popular brand in my country and I'm sure a lot of people are in the same situation.
Funnily enough, Google maps still work. I'm impressed that their APIs have remained the same for a very long time now.
And yes, I can probably still install APKs manually or find a custom firmware with more modern version of Android where Google play will work. But that requires certain amount of skill and time, so for most owners this phone is only slightly more functional than a dumbphone.