More and more sports journalism sites are developing Android (and iPhone) applications and in an effort to encourage readers to use those apps they often offer some of their articles for free via their apps where their websites require a paid subscription.

The first way to access that content would be to download the app onto your mobile device. However, in the event you prefer to do your reading on a computer or laptop, rather than a smaller device, there's a solution for getting the Android apps working on your PC for free.

Use of an Android emulator permits a computer to run the Android OS on your computer, and then search for and install apps as you would on your phone or tablet.

The one I've used which has a nice simple download and installation is Blue Stacks, although there are others out there.

If you want to be able to view and run Android apps via your PC here are the steps:

Head to https://www.bluestacks.com/ and click the download link.



You'll get an installer downloaded wherever you choose to save it:



If you run it (double-click), it'll launch the installation process and then just follow the steps.

Once it's installed it'll open up a window:



There are some possible hardware configuration changes you can make to improve performance - check the Bluestacks website for guidance and support.

You can also sign in with a Google account or Facebook etc.

Once up and running you can use the search bar in the top right to look for Android apps.
Install it into the Bluestacks app and it will create a short cut to the app on your Windows desktop too (which you can safely delete if you want). The apps can be accessed, of course, through the Bluestacks window.



Double-click the app and it'll launch in tab. You can then use the app in the same way as on a mobile device:



You can go fullscreen, or shrink it down to normal mobile device dimensions:

 

It's literally just a download and install. Evidently I made it sound complicated....fail.