PlayStation Vita is a handheld gaming system that was released by Sony in early 2011. Since its launch, the Vita has been the subject of much speculation and discussion due to the fact that it is a powerful device that failed to catch on with consumers.
The Vita can play games, watch movies, video chat, and browse the Internet. It can also read ebooks, but no one cares about that because no one reads books anymore.
The best apps for this device are as follows:
Best Apps For Ps Vita
Sure, the PS Vita is primarily a gaming platform, but it’s got some more tricks up its sleeve. It can play music and surf the web, and it has a few apps that have nothing to do with gaming. You’ll recognize a few of them (Netflix and Crunchyroll, for example), while others are gaming companion apps. Here are the best PS Vita apps available for download.
01
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Twitch
Twitch app on a PS Vita screen
What We Like
Looks and works just like Twitch.
Snappy interface.
What We Don’t Like
No touchscreen support.
Videos take time to load.
This video streaming service feels right at home on the Vita’s diminutive screen; the purple and white Twitch logo and interface will be familiar to anyone who has used Twitch on the web. You can search, browse a list of games, surf various channels of streaming content, and log in to your Twitch account all from the main screen.
Neither the touch screen nor the joysticks work in the Twitch app; instead, you’ll use the D-Pad to navigate to your menus and other selections, pressing the X button to select them. The app itself is fairly snappy, and while videos load slowly, they do appear after a short delay.
Download Twitch from the PlayStation Store
02
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Netflix
Netflix app on PS Vita screen
What We Like
Touchscreen support.
Access to entire Netflix catalog.
What We Don’t Like
Not very easy to use.
Similarly, the PS Vita Netflix app is useful if not as easy to use as, say, the streaming company’s mobile apps on iOS or Android. Still, if all you have is your PS Vita, you can stream all the Netflix content you want via the gaming handheld.
You can browse for titles on the main screen using the touch screen, D-Pad, or left joystick. Search the catalog with the triangle button to find just the right film or TV show to binge. The interface has ratings and info, just like modern mobile versions of Netflix.
Download Netflix from the PlayStation Store
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Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll PS Vita app
What We Like
Access to anime catalog.
Can watch free with ads.
Can sign up for a free trial on Vita.
What We Don’t Like
No touchscreen support.
This anime-streaming app works well on the Vita, as well. You can browse and search for your favorite anime titles using the shoulder buttons, D-Pad, or left joystick. The touch screen doesn’t work here, either, but the interface is a bit more responsive than the previous two entries above, and videos are a little faster to load.
If you’re a serious fan of the anime art form, this app will keep you pretty happy on your PS Vita. You can watch videos for free with ads, or log in to your Premium account. There’s also a 14-day trial you can access on the Vita screen.
Download Crunchyroll from the PlayStation Store
04
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Imaginstruments
Imaginstruments PS Vita app
What We Like
Fun to make music with Vita.
Easy to learn.
What We Don’t Like
A bit primitive.
This quirky little music-making app may seem somewhat primitive now that you can get professional-level sequencers for your iOS or Android device, but it’s a fun diversion from gaming on your PS Vita.
The main interface consists of two sections, one with drums and pre-made keyboard sequences, and one with bass sequences. On the drum/keyboard screen, you tap the screen up and down a column to choose how that specific instrument sounds (bass drum, hi-hat, snare, cymbal, keyboard).
On the bass screen, you tap buttons to choose the specific sound and sequence while moving the symbol around onscreen to change its parameters. You can change the main note the bass sound hovers around (called a “keynote”), too. A settings button lets you set the scale and tempo on the fly.
Download Imaginstruments from the PlayStation Store
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WeatherNation
WeatherNation app on PS Vita
What We Like
You can see the local weather.
It’s unique.
What We Don’t Like
Several features don’t work.
Quirky interface.
While this weather app has a few bugs and a quirky design sense, it does indeed show the weather. The app starts by asking for your zip code or city to set a “home” screen. This doesn’t seem to work, and after a few failed attempts, it lets you skip. Once you do, you’re taken to the main screen of whatever zip code you failed at entering in the interface. It’s weird but still usable.
You’ll see the temperature, “feels like” rating, and precipitation overview, with a high/low readout and a percent chance of precipitation on the left-hand side of the screen. To the right, you can watch a live weather video from a random location, or pre-recorded videos in a Weather On Demand section. The sound is distorted, with the former, but the latter is fun to see. You can pull up a rain, ice, and snow radar map, too. You can zoom in and out on the map with the PS Vita shoulder buttons.
Download WeatherNation from the PlayStation Store
06
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Wake-up Club
Wake-up Club app on a PS Vita
What We Like
Clever idea.
Fun way to wake up.
What We Don’t Like
No community.
Needs internet access for community features.
This clever app is a social alarm clock app that gamifies how well you wake up compared to other users. Whether or not there are others out there using this app is questionable, of course, but the Wake-up Club app still works nicely.
It will track how many “successful” wake-ups (defined by you turning off the alarm within 5 minutes of it sounding) you and other users have completed in a row, and will place you on a leaderboard based on how many times you’ve done that in a row. You set up an alarm time, repetition, sound and volume, then decide whether it will be a regular alarm or a Club alarm.
If you choose the latter, you’ll need to stay connected to the internet and leave the Vita on the app screen while you sleep. The standard alarm doesn’t require a network connection. The app also has a timer you can use, with big, easy-to-read numbers on it and virtual buttons you can use to set the time increment. If you want to gamify your alarm clock or just use your Vita as one, Wake-up Club is the way to go.
Download Wake-up Club from PlayStation Store
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LiveTweet
LiveTweet app on PS Vita
What We Like
It’s literally Twitter on your Vita.
Search, browse, and reply functionality.
What We Don’t Like
GIFs are static.
This app is exactly what you’d think: a Twitter client for the PS Vita. You can log in with your Twitter account, then browse your main feed, see your direct messages and @-replies, and check out the lists you make or follow. You can even perform a Twitter search or tap through to various trending hashtags. You can tweet to your followers, too, using the onscreen keyboard.
The touch screen, D-Pad, and left joystick all navigate through the interface, while the gaming buttons do various things, too, like clicking through to hashtags and user names. Photos are supported, too, but GIFs are relegated to a static frame. Still, if you need your Twitter fix on your PS Vita, LiveTweet is a fairly full-featured way to do it.
best ps vita plugins 2021
Most PSVita hackers love their homebrew software, such as Adrenaline and RetroArch emulators. However, there is another category of software for hacked PSVita consoles,called plugins, which also deserves its own share of love! This article is here to explain and bring the light the best PSVita/PSTV plugins that work with h-encore.
- ShellBat/ShellSecBat
ShellBat is a favourite of mine as it brings the battery percentage to the status bar, a feature that Sony themselves should’ve implemented!
Must-have homebrew for the upcoming PSVita FW 3.65 to 3.68 hack!
Having the battery percentage is very useful since the battery icon sometimes displays a full battery even when your PSVita is on 60-70%!
Thanks to nowrep’s ShellBat, which was released back in May 2017, you no longer need to open a separate app to check your battery’s true remaining percentage (as Sony’s battery icon is inaccurate).
If you want more than just the battery percentage in the status bar, you can opt for ShellSecBat. ShellSecBat is a fork of ShellBat by OperationNT414C which also allows you to display:
Seconds
The remaining space of storage partitions including ux0, ur0, uma0 and xmc0
Both plugins were recently updated for FW 3.68 so you can start using them straight away!
- DownloadEnabler
The browser is actually somewhat useful when paired with DownloadEnabler since it’s a fast way to get ROMs for your favourite emulators!
If you’re a fan of using your PSVita/PSTV without a computer/smartphone at your side, this one will prove extremely useful. DownloadEnabler, by TheFlow, allows you download any file you want (not just a few file types like images that Sony lets you download) via the Browser application and stores it to ux0:/download!
This plugin is even more useful if your PSVita is running FW 3.67 or 3.68 since lower firmwares don’t support TLSv1.2. This could make navigating the internet a little more painful as some websites have dropped support for browsers that don’t support TLSv1.2 encryption.
Like ShellBat, this plugin is available for FW 3.68 so you can go legally grab those ROMs now!
- PSV VSH Menu
PSV VSH Menu, by Joel16, is a plugin that allows you to overclock your PSVita and do other stuff such as load applications. Of course, it also gives that nostalgic PSP-era VSH Menu look. Does overclocking the PSVita damage it? Absolutely not, some games like Project Diva F even do it natively!
5 useful plugins to use with h-encore on FW 3.65-3.68
PSV VSH Menu allows you overclock your PSVita to get over FPS issues and do much more!
Like the PSP, the PSVita’s CPU usually runs at underclocked frequency of 333MHz (the PSP ran at 222MHz) to prolong battery life but this sometimes has adverse effects on games.
More demanding games like Borderlands 2 could greatly benefit from ‘overclocking’ your PSVita’s CPU to 444Mhz by outputting much better framerates. Remember, overclocking your PSVita will make it heat up more and obviously, the battery will run down quicker so don’t overclock it if you won’t be near a charging source for a while!
While PSV VSH Menu didn’t get any update for the FW 3.68, users have reported that it still works properly so you can go install it right now!
- NoNpDrm and NoPsmDrm
Both plugins strip out DRM protection on official PSVita games so that you could play games without having the adequate license. Obviously, both are/will be used for piracy although there are some legitimate use-cases for both such as running legally owned digital games on unactivated consoles (you can’t activate some PSVita firmwares).
Life of Pixel, one of the games that NoPsmDRM resurrects from the dead!
NoNpDrm, by TheFlow, is targeted towards PSVita games (excluding PSX/PSP titles which can be run via Adrenaline) while NoPsmDrm is targeted towards PSM games. PSM (PlayStation Mobile) is a defunct software platform that was closed down in late 2015 so without NoPsmDrm, there would be no way to play PSM games today unless you bought them over 2.5 years ago and you didn’t delete them! Thanks to Frangar, you can play games such as Life Of Pixel even today but do note that downloading PSM software is technically illegal so let your conscience weigh down on that.
As both plugins are mostly used for piracy, no links will be provided and as always, purchase games to support their creators if possible (unlike it is with PSM titles).
- Pngshot
If you regularly take screenshots on the PSVita/PSTV (START + PS button), you will notice that screenshots aren’t very high quality and some even contain watermarks. Thanks to xyzz’s pngshot plugin, you can take screenshots in PNG format in every application without watermarks.
Screenshots of games like Metal Gear Solid 3 will no longer have watermarks thanks to pngshot. Image from MobyGames
It was recently updated to support FW 3.68 so that you can start taking good screenshots straight away!
Conclusion
Obviously, there are many more worthwhile plugins to install but some may not work on FW 3.68! Sadly, VitaBright and DS3Vita haven’t been updated yet which is why they didn’t make the list.
Other noteworthy plugins are DS4Vita, NoAVLS, Vflux, OclockVita and ReStore(lets PSN work on FW 3.60).
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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