Problem:
How to create a layer that looks like your notification center‘s or control center‘s background
Solution:
Using UIImage+ImageEffects to Create a Blurred Popup Layer
Code Fragments:
// create the layer self.layer = [CALayer layer]; self.layer.frame = CGRectMake(80, 100, 160, 160); [self.view.layer addSublayer:self.layer]; // Take the screenshot float scale = [UIScreen mainScreen].scale; UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(self.view.frame.size, YES, scale); [self.view drawViewHierarchyInRect:self.view.frame afterScreenUpdates:NO]; __block UIImage *image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext(); UIGraphicsEndImageContext(); // Crop the screenshot CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect(image.CGImage, CGRectMake(self.layer.frame.origin.x * scale, self.layer.frame.origin.y * scale, self.layer.frame.size.width * scale, self.layer.frame.size.height * scale)); image = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef]; // Apply the effect image = [image applyBlurWithRadius:50.0f tintColor: [UIColor colorWithRed:0 green:1 blue:0 alpha:0.1] saturationDeltaFactor:2 maskImage:nil]; // assign it to the new layer‘s contents self.layer.contents = (__bridge id)(image.CGImage);