You don’t need Google to contribute.
While they do have an app on the Play store, you can also just use the website.

First time I’m hearing about this one, but Zooniverse looks awesome. Definitely a lot of projects in there to satisfy the interests of any individual.

or logging the animals I see in nature or something

iNaturalist is a great way to contribute in this way:
https://www.inaturalist.org/

Just be sure to go into your settings and change the default license to something less restrictive (or whatever you’re comfortable with).

It was introduced to me by a zoologist that specializes in Reptiles and I know it’s a tool that researchers (or anyone depending on the license of the observation) can use.