Question Any risk if I play homebrew/emulators on my Switch?

Risk of ban? Yes. There is and you probably would get banned.

Risk of brick? Not so much, unless you run some shady stuff, but if you use the regular stuff, i would say you are good.

Also, how can you launch homebrew apps/emulators without installing CFW? Im pretty sure you have to on 9.0.1 but yeah, after a reboot it would be "off".

 

You can create an EMUMMC and play homebrew. Just make sure you have no wifi connection enabled or clear this as making one is an exact copy of your system.
Then just play offline and DO NOT CONNECT INTERNET.

When play legit power off and remove sd card with emummc.

 

There have been no confirmed bans of people who only use homebrew. Pretty much everybody who only uses homebrew and does nothing naughty is still unbanned.

Nintendo seem to ban for the following:

1) installing NSPs - this includes both piracy and homebrew NSPs
2) cheating online

Nobody can second guess Nintendo and say you will never, ever get banned. However, all qualified and verified evidence suggests that if you use a telemetry-disabling CFW like Atmosphere/Kosmos and load homebrew by holding R on any title, you will not get banned.

 

If you want to be a little more paranoid, you can also run Android or Linux, and have access to all the same emulators plus several more, as well as their own library of games. These run entirely off their own SD card and don't interact with Nintendo servers at all, so there's no risk of ban. They do have drawbacks and some other finicky behavior, but it also opens up many apps that aren't available for Switch's native OS.

 

Good idea.
It also fits better in the pocket.