Bought yourself a Motorola ATRIX HD and have been waiting for the opportunity to install custom ROMs on it? Rejoice then, as Safestrap recovery has been released for the device by XDA Recognized Developer Hashcode, the popular custom recovery for Motorola devices that lets users install custom ROMs without neeeding an unlocked bootloader.

Safestrap recovery bypasses the main partition on the phone where the stock ROM is installed, and installs custom ROMs on virtual partitions on the internal SD card, thus allowing users to boot into custom ROMs by bypassing the official ROM installed on the device, and without needing to unlock the bootloader.

Follow our step-by-step guide to install Safestrap recovery on your Motorola ATRIX HD.

How to Download and Install Safestrap Recovery on ATRIX HD

  1. Make sure your ATRIX HD is rooted. Head to this link for instructions on how to root the ATRIX HD.
  2. Download the latest version of the Safestrap recovery installer APK file from the official downloads page. You will need to download the file that says RAZR-HD-Safestrap-*.*.apk (where * is the version number). Don’t worry, the name says RAZR HD but it works on the ATRIX HD as well.
  3. Copy the .apk file downloaded in step 2 to the phone.
  4. Enable “Unknown sources” under the Settings » Security menu on the device, so that you can install apps from the SD card.
  5. You’ll need a file manager to browse through SD Card. You can install OI file manager or ES File Explorer or any other file manager app from the Play Store if needed.
  6. Open file manager and navigate to where you transferred Safestrap recovery’s APK file in Step 3. Tap on the file to begin installation procedure and it will be installed in less than a minute.
  7. Once installation is completed, run Safestrap Recovery app by clicking on its icon in the apps menu.
  8. Grant the app root access by pressing the Allow/Grant button when prompted. Root access is needed to be able to install recovery.
  9. Then, hit the “Install Recovery” button in the app, which will install Safestrap recovery on your ATRIX HD. You should see the status changed to “Installed” once recovery has been installed.
  10. To check out recovery or boot into it when required, you can reboot the device from within the app, then when the phone boots up you will see a splash screen, from where you will be able to choose between entering recovery or booting normally.

Safestrap recovery is now installed on your ATRIX HD, and you can flash all the custom ROMs that your heart desires. Enjoy!