Help

Every sound is made right on your device, the moment you tap it — no audio file is bundled and none is downloaded. That is why it starts right away, the very first time as well, and without an internet connection.

The buttons for the previous and the next sound sit on either side of "Play". You can also swipe left across the page for the next sound, or right for the previous one. Under Sounds, tapping a row plays that sound straight away; tapping it again pauses it.

Choose 25, 50 or 90 minutes – or play open-ended. At the end of the session the music fades gently instead of just stopping, and a single quiet tone says that it is over. A running session can be ended or extended at any time.

Yes, on iPhone and iPad. Say “Start Soft Focus”, “Soft Focus for 50 minutes”, “Add 25 minutes to Soft Focus” or “Stop Soft Focus”. Playback begins without the app coming to the front. Siri asks for permission the first time. Every sentence is listed in the app under Settings › Siri & Shortcuts, where you can also build them into shortcuts of your own. On a Mac, Siri does not listen for these sentences; the same actions are in the Shortcuts app there.

Yes. On iPhone a running focus session sits on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island as a Live Activity: the time left counts down on its own, one button pauses and resumes, and a second one, “No timer”, takes the countdown away and keeps playing. Pausing stops the clock. After the end the card stays a short while and then goes away.

Yes. Playback continues while Soft Focus is in the background or your device is locked. From the lock screen, your headphones or Control Center you can pause, resume and switch sounds.

Yes. Soft Focus runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. On every one of them the sounds are made right there, and nothing is downloaded. To keep your own sounds, favorites and layer changes the same everywhere, turn on syncing under Settings › iCloud; that is part of Pro. Syncing is no backup: before you reset a device, back it up.

On the Mac, Soft Focus also sits in the menu bar: its own lamp, filled while something is playing, with playback and the focus session underneath — no window needed. Under Settings › On this device you can switch the icon off and have the app open at login; macOS asks once for that, and while the answer is outstanding the line under the switch says so.

Yes. Every sound is made of single layers — rain, a distant city, a beat, the instruments of its music. "Customize" — on Listen, in a sound's menu, or for a draft under Create — lets you take out what bothers you under Instruments and Atmosphere, and bring it back; both are free, and so is every level. One instrument always stays on. Adding a layer to a bundled sound that its recipe never had, or swapping one of its instruments, is part of Pro. A swap is offered only where another instrument suits the sound, and then from a short selection.

You can use Soft Focus for free without ads, keep up to two sounds of your own, and up to fifty with Pro. Pro is a one-time App Store purchase and also extends a sound's length, plays only your favorites or one category on request, exports sounds as audio files, adds layers to a bundled sound that its recipe never had, swaps its instruments where another one fits, and syncs your own sounds through iCloud. One payment, no subscription.

Playback, settings and your own sounds work without internet. Only buying or restoring Pro uses the App Store, and iCloud sync reconciles once you switch it on. Soft Focus needs no account and sends no usage data.