Choose Soft if you want a nudge you can step out of. Choose Hard for the times you know you'd talk yourself out of it. A Hard block can't be stopped early. You can still take a short break, and the block comes back by itself afterwards.

Side by side

	Soft	Hard
Take a break	Yes, with PAUSE or Take a break in Slow Time Club, or TAKE A BREAK on the block screen	Yes, with PAUSE or Take a break in Slow Time Club. Not from the block screen
Stop a Quick Block early	Yes, with STOP	No
End a Focus Session early	Yes. End Session unlocks after a 10-second countdown and ends it for today only	No
Change the apps while it's running	Stop or end it, then change it	No
Delete apps from your iPhone	Yes, unless you've turned on Uninstall protection yourself	No. Uninstall protection switches on until the block ends
TAKE A BREAK on block screens	Shown	Hidden on every block screen while a Hard block runs, even for Soft blocks

Good to know

You pick Soft or Hard when you create a block: under Difficulty for a Quick Block, or Choose difficulty for a Focus Session.
While Uninstall protection is on, Set Automatically for the date and time stays on too.
A Hard Focus Session only holds during its hours. Outside them, you can edit or delete it.
App Limits don't have Soft or Hard. A reached limit stays locked until midnight with no breaks, but you can edit or delete the limit itself.

Not sure?

There's no early way out of a Hard block, so start with Soft. Once you know which moments are hardest, try Hard for those.