HENkaku FAQ – What to expect from HENkaku, the PS Vita 3.60 exploit?

In a few hours, we expect HENkaku, the first PS Vita Native Homebrew Enabler, to be released by team Molecule. Lots of questions are surfacing already so here’s a quick summary:

What is HENkaku for PS Vita?

HENkaku is a homebrew enabler for the PS Vita. It will run native vita homebrews such as these emulators.

Does HENkaku support PS TV?

Yes, although a last minute bug means PS TV might not be supported immediately at launch. This should be fixed soon after launch, according to the developers

Update 2: Team molecule has found the issue and a fix is underway. PSTV support might still make the launch. Each vpk still needs update.

— Yifan (@yifanlu) July 29, 2016

What kind of software can I run with HENkaku?

Native homebrew applications for the PS Vita such as these emulators. There is some expectation that this could also be later used to enable the failmail tricks (app.db update) as well as, ultimately, run PSP homebrews and backups, although this is not supported out of the box.

Does HENkaku let me run PS Vita game backups?

No. Future hacks might enable this, but the team behind HENkaku is not working on such a feature.

What PS vita Firmwares does HENkaku run on?

Firmware 3.60, the latest and greatest PS Vita firmware at the time of this writing

Will HENkaku be ported to lower firmwares?

According to Yifanlu, this is doable but he says it’s unlikely it will happen anytime soon. In particular team molecule will not work on such a port.

@sjake333 we will not support it but it can be ported. Don’t expect it to be released within a year though.

— Yifan (@yifanlu) July 28, 2016

Will HENkaku work on future Vita firmwares (e.g. firmware 3.61, 3.65, or 3.70?)

No, it is quite guaranteed that Sony will patch the exploit powering HENkaku in their next update. A new exploit would be required to enable homebrew again beyond firmware 3.60

I use Rejuvenate/Failmail/TN-V/ARK/VHBL on firmware x.yz. Should I upgrade to 3.60 to run HENkaku?

The decision is up to you, but here’s what Yifanlu said about this:

Rejuvenate and FailMail trick are now deprecated (since we have fs access with this hack, all your failmail tricks are even easier. in fact, people can write homebrew apps that do all your favorite tweaks).

Haven’t tested this, but you should be able to create signed PSP bubbles, so PSP homebrew should work that way.

The rest… well the official stance of this subreddit is that we do not endorse piracy, so PSP iso loading is not supported. But I can’t imagine it’ll be that difficult for people to figure out.

How do I install/run HENkaku?

courtesy of Davee

All details can be found on the official site. It is worth noting the exploit is free and does not require any additional software to run besides the Vita browser.

Copying homebrews to your vita will require you to install an FTP client on your computer such as Filezilla.

One of the known limitations is that the hack will need to be “reactivated” by visiting the official page every time you power off your Vita. pressing the power button does not power off your ps vita, it puts it to sleep. To power off the vita, it either needs to run out of battery, or you long pressing the power button and explicitly selecting “power off”. Think of how many times you actually do that with your phone, and you should realize this is not a big limitation 🙂

Can I get my PSN account banned by Sony for using HENkaku?

As with any scene release, there is some level of risk that Sony could detect, then later on ban, people using the HENkaku exploit. The actual level of risk of such an event is completely unknown at this point, although in the past PS Vita users have not been banned for using Rejuvenate or any of the ePSP hacks. PS vita users should decide if they want to create a new “fake” account on their PS vita to reduce their risk, of if they are fine using their actual account.

I totally have another question that you didn’t answer here!

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