An unofficial build of TWRP recovery is now available for the Moto Z Play, thanks to developer Alberto97 over at xda. The recovery is fully functional except for the external SD card not getting detected while in recovery, but everything else works flawlessly.

With Moto Z Play TWRP recovery now available, you can root your device using either SuperSU zip or Magisk. But since the device also has forced encryption and verity checks at boot to see if the system partition has been modified, Alberto97 says you need to flash the latest SuperSU v2.78 SR3 to correctly patch the ramdisk on Moto Z Play to disable verity check and forced encryption.

Thankfully, flashing the SuperSU zip via TWRP recovery is a piece of cake. Below is a quick guide to install TWRP on Moto Z Play and then root it with SuperSU zip.

Note: To be able to flash a custom recovery like TWRP, you need to unlock the bootloader on your Moto Z Play first. The quick guide below has link to step-by-step guide to unlock bootloader on Motorola devices, follow it.

[icon name=”download” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Download Moto Z Play TWRP recovery (.img)

[icon name=”download” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Download SuperSU v2.78 SR3 (.zip)

How to Install TWRP and Root Moto Z Play with no forced encryption

  1. Unlock bootloader on your Moto Z Play.
  2. Download the Moto Z Play TWRP recovery .img from the download link above.
  3. Install TWRP recovery via Fastboot.
  4. Download and transfer the SuperSU zip from the link above to your Moto Z Play.
  5. Boot into TWRP recovery. Tap on Install and select the SuperSU zip file that you transferred to your device in the Step above.
  6. After selecting the .zip file, do Swipe to Confirm Flash on the bottom of screen to flash SuperSU zip file.
  7. Now to disable forced encryption and dm-verity, you need to format data on the device. This will wipe all files (apps, games, photos, videos, documents, etc.) so make sure you take a backup before proceeding:
    1. Go back to the main screen of TWRP recovery.
    2. Select Wipe » Advanced wipe » type yes and hit enter on keyboard to format data.
  8. Flash the SuperSU zip again like you did in Step 5 above.
  9. Reboot phone.

Once booted, your Moto Z Play should be rooted with encryption disabled. To verify root access, install/download any root checker app from the Play Store.

Image source: Android Central