The Moto X was first released back in 2013 as the first flagship smartphone from the Google-owned Motorola Mobility. It’s true that despite being one of the best phones at a reasonable price and gathering a lot of buzz, the Moto X failed to convert its X-factor into sales. The device is unique in many ways. The Moto-maker feature allows you to build your own customized Moto X with personalized colors, trims, back panels with a background of your choice and even customized engraved text.
Motorola has now launched the 2nd edition of its flagship called the Moto X 2014. The phones comes in different variants with 3G and 4G support and in locked and unlocked bootloader versions. The international and carrier-branded models like T-Mobile (XT1095) of the Moto X have unlockable bootloader and are free from SIM restrictions. They are also called the MotoX 2014 Pure Edition. On the other hand the AT&T (XT1097) and Verizon (XT1096) variants of the phone have SIM-lock and locked bootloader both.
The Moto X is an amazing smartphone as it comes out of the box but, like all Android devices, you cannot get the most out of it unless you gain root privilege and try root apps, Xposed framework modules and custom mods. If you own the Pure Edition (SIM and bootloader unlocked model) of the Moto X and are looking for a method to root your device, you got a reason to smile now. Yes, renowned developer jcase from XDA has devised a way to acquire root on the new Moto X 2014. Months ago, we did a rooting tutorial for the Moto G using the Superboot method. Jcase’s root method is similar exploit but it’s easier and only for the Moto X 2014.
Prerequisites
- A Moto X 2014 with an unlocked bootloader. You can unlock the bootloader by following the instructions given at Motorola official page.
- Set up ADB and Fastboot on your computer or download the minimal ADB and fastboot tool from here (unzip it).
- Install Motorola USB Drivers on your computer.
- Download the modified boot image by jcase: pure2014sb.zip
- Open Settings> Developer options and enable USB Debugging on your device.
Root MotoX 2014 Pure Edition with Superboot
Having taken care of the prerequisites mentioned above, you can now proceed to root your Moto X 2014. Just follow the steps given below.
- Extract the pure2014sb.zip file and copy the pure2014sb.img file into the platform-tools folder (in case you have Android SDK installed) or copy the files into the mfastboot v2 folder.
- While the folder with ADB and fastboot files is open, right-click on an empty space and select “Open command window here” option to launch a cmd.
- Connect your Moto X 2014 to the computer using a USB cable.
- Now type the following command in the cmd window and press the Enter key:
adb reboot bootloader
- Your phone will reboot into the Fastboot mode.
- Then issue the following command:
fastboot boot pure2014sb.img
- When the phone boots up, install su and quickly reboot it.
- When the device boots up again, go to Google Play store and install the SuperUser app.[googleplay url=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.supersu”]
Done! You have successfully rooted your 2nd Generation Moto X (2014). Enjoy! If you wish to verify root access on your phone, try any app that requires root or simply install and run it.
[googleplay url=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jrummyapps.rootchecker”]
If you’ve taken an OTA update (like Lollipop) then beware. It didn’t work out so well for me.
after flashing the boot image and rebooting, how to install su..?
I followed these instructions to root my motox 2nd gen. They worked great. however, today i received a notification on the phone “New firmware available”, “Update to get the lastest Motorola Sensor Services”. How do I proceed?
Do not accept the OTA or you will lose the root. I am not sure if it work after the OTA.
OK thanks. Wondering how I can get the update?
You should wait for a few days until it is confirmed working after the OTA.
Ok thanks! I appreciate the responses.
Hi Rakesh,
FYI I was reading jcase thread on XDA and someone mentioned that because this method did not change system files that the ota update should work. I ended up losing patience and just tried it. After about 90 agonizing seconds the update completed successfully. I still would love to know how to unroot though. I’m still not sure I understand what flashboot boot does
Like most root exploits, it pushes the su binaries to the device. However, it does that my making the device boot. The most popular way to unroot an Android device is to flash the stock firmware (we’ll soon come with a detailed tutorial for that).
You can try this: https://www.droidviews.com/how-to-unroot-android-devices-manually/
Great link thanks! The method on this post uses a fastboot “boot” command rather than a fastboot “flash” command. Doesn’t that mean that we did not flash or overwrite anything? Not sure why I would need to re-flash stock firmware when I haven’t changed it (as far as I know). What I’m guessing is that this method simply boots into a mode that enables you to install SuperSU to root the device, but doesn’t really do anything else. Maybe that’s why the OTA update worked. I did not even lose root when I installed the update.
do you think this can work on verizon 2nd gen moto x?
No, pure edition means the Moto X variants with unlocked bootloader.