Blurring Views in Android with RenderScript: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6795483/create-blurry-transparent-background-effect/21052060#21052060

BlurBuilder.java

import android.support.v8.renderscript.*;

public class BlurBuilder {
    private static final float BITMAP_SCALE = 0.4f;
    private static final float BLUR_RADIUS = 7.5f;

    public static Bitmap blur(View v) {
        return blur(v.getContext(), getScreenshot(v));
    }

    public static Bitmap blur(Context ctx, Bitmap image) {
        int width = Math.round(image.getWidth() * BITMAP_SCALE);
        int height = Math.round(image.getHeight() * BITMAP_SCALE);

        Bitmap inputBitmap = Bitmap.createScaledBitmap(image, width, height, false);
        Bitmap outputBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(inputBitmap);

        RenderScript rs = RenderScript.create(ctx);
        ScriptIntrinsicBlur theIntrinsic = ScriptIntrinsicBlur.create(rs, Element.U8_4(rs));
        Allocation tmpIn = Allocation.createFromBitmap(rs, inputBitmap);
        Allocation tmpOut = Allocation.createFromBitmap(rs, outputBitmap);
        theIntrinsic.setRadius(BLUR_RADIUS);
        theIntrinsic.setInput(tmpIn);
        theIntrinsic.forEach(tmpOut);
        tmpOut.copyTo(outputBitmap);

        return outputBitmap;
    }

    private static Bitmap getScreenshot(View v) {
        Bitmap b = Bitmap.createBitmap(v.getWidth(), v.getHeight(), Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
        Canvas c = new Canvas(b);
        v.draw(c);
        return b;
    }
}

EXAMPLE.md

Add the following to the activity you wish to blur

final Activity activity = getActivity();
final View content = activity.findViewById(android.R.id.content).getRootView();
if (content.getWidth() > 0) {
    Bitmap image = BlurBuilder.blur(content);
    window.setBackgroundDrawable(new BitmapDrawable(activity.getResources(), image));
} else {
    content.getViewTreeObserver().addOnGlobalLayoutListener(new OnGlobalLayoutListener() {
        @Override
        public void onGlobalLayout() {
            Bitmap image = BlurBuilder.blur(content);
            window.setBackgroundDrawable(new BitmapDrawable(activity.getResources(), image));
        }
    });
}

Add the following to gradle scripts Minimum of API target 17 without v8 support, api target 8 otherwise

android {
  ...
  defaultConfig {
    ...
    renderscriptTargetApi *your target api*
    renderscriptSupportModeEnabled true
  }
  ...
}