Creating blur image from given with vImage

vImageBlurTest.mm

- (UIImage *)blurryImage:(UIImage *)image withBlurLevel:(CGFloat)blur {
    if (blur < 0.f || blur > 1.f) {
        blur = 0.5f;
    }
    int boxSize = (int)(blur * 100);
    boxSize = boxSize - (boxSize % 2) + 1;
    
    CGImageRef img = image.CGImage;
    
    vImage_Buffer inBuffer, outBuffer;
    vImage_Error error;
    
    void *pixelBuffer;
    
    CGDataProviderRef inProvider = CGImageGetDataProvider(img);
    CFDataRef inBitmapData = CGDataProviderCopyData(inProvider);
    
    inBuffer.width = CGImageGetWidth(img);
    inBuffer.height = CGImageGetHeight(img);
    inBuffer.rowBytes = CGImageGetBytesPerRow(img);
    
    inBuffer.data = (void*)CFDataGetBytePtr(inBitmapData);
    
    pixelBuffer = malloc(CGImageGetBytesPerRow(img) * 
                         CGImageGetHeight(img));
    
    if(pixelBuffer == NULL)
        NSLog(@"No pixelbuffer");
    
    outBuffer.data = pixelBuffer;
    outBuffer.width = CGImageGetWidth(img);
    outBuffer.height = CGImageGetHeight(img);
    outBuffer.rowBytes = CGImageGetBytesPerRow(img);
    
    error = vImageBoxConvolve_ARGB8888(&inBuffer, 
                                       &outBuffer, 
                                       NULL, 
                                       0, 
                                       0, 
                                       boxSize, 
                                       boxSize, 
                                       NULL, 
                                       kvImageEdgeExtend);
    
    
    if (error) {
        NSLog(@"error from convolution %ld", error);
    }
    
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGContextRef ctx = CGBitmapContextCreate(
                                    outBuffer.data,
                                    outBuffer.width,
                                    outBuffer.height,
                                    8,
                                    outBuffer.rowBytes,
                                    colorSpace,
                                    kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast);
    CGImageRef imageRef = CGBitmapContextCreateImage (ctx);
    UIImage *returnImage = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef];
    
    //clean up
    CGContextRelease(ctx);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);
    
    free(pixelBuffer);
    CFRelease(inBitmapData);
    
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);
    CGImageRelease(imageRef);
    
    return returnImage;
}

The CGBitmapContextCreate takes a CGBitmapInfo value, not a CGImageAlphaInfo so passing kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast there leads to unexpected effects under certain conditions.
You should put CGImageGetBitmapInfo(image.CGImage) there to use the same value the original image has.

Also the original image's color space may be reused as well: CGImageGetColorSpace(image.CGImage)