autocrop UIImage from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9061800/how-do-i-autocrop-a-uiimage

gistfile1.txt

func cropRect() -> CGRect {
    let cgImage = self.CGImage!
    let context = createARGBBitmapContextFromImage(cgImage)
    if context == nil {
        return CGRectZero
    }

    let height = CGFloat(CGImageGetHeight(cgImage))
    let width = CGFloat(CGImageGetWidth(cgImage))

    let rect = CGRectMake(0, 0, width, height)
    CGContextDrawImage(context, rect, cgImage)

    let data = UnsafePointer<CUnsignedChar>(CGBitmapContextGetData(context))

    if data == nil {
        return CGRectZero
    }

    var lowX = width
    var lowY = height
    var highX: CGFloat = 0
    var highY: CGFloat = 0

    //Filter through data and look for non-transparent pixels.
    for (var y: CGFloat = 0 ; y < height ; y++) {
        for (var x: CGFloat = 0; x < width ; x++) {
            let pixelIndex = (width * y + x) * 4 /* 4 for A, R, G, B */

            if data[Int(pixelIndex)] != 0 { //Alpha value is not zero pixel is not transparent.
                if (x < lowX) {
                    lowX = x
                }
                if (x > highX) {
                    highX = x
                }
                if (y < lowY) {
                    lowY = y
                }
                if (y > highY) {
                    highY = y
                }
            }
        }
    }


    return CGRectMake(lowX, lowY, highX-lowX, highY-lowY)
}

// The method to create the Bitmap Context:

func createARGBBitmapContextFromImage(inImage: CGImageRef) -> CGContextRef? {

    let width = CGImageGetWidth(inImage)
    let height = CGImageGetHeight(inImage)

    let bitmapBytesPerRow = width * 4
    let bitmapByteCount = bitmapBytesPerRow * height

    let colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB()
    if colorSpace == nil {
        return nil
    }

    let bitmapData = malloc(bitmapByteCount)
    if bitmapData == nil {
        return nil
    }

    let context = CGBitmapContextCreate (bitmapData,
        width,
        height,
        8,      // bits per component
        bitmapBytesPerRow,
        colorSpace,
        CGImageAlphaInfo.PremultipliedFirst.rawValue)

    return context
}

// example 

let image = // UIImage Source
let newRect = image.cropRect()
if let imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect(image.CGImage!, newRect) {
    let newImage = UIImage(CGImage: imageRef)
    // Use this new Image
}