Herein, a simple dicyanoisophoron-based near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent sensor IQ has been designed and constructed for the rapid recognition of Zn2+ in environmental samples and living systems. The synthesized NIR sensor IQ in H2O/EtOH/ (1/9, v/v) displayed excellent recognition performances towards Zn2+ including nano-molar detection limit (60.5 nM) and a large Stokes shift (173 nm). Sensor IQ was successively applied to realize the determination of Zn2+ in smartphone applications. Furthermore, IQ-loaded test strips, cotton swabs, and polysulfone capsules were able to quickly determine the presence of Zn2+. Besides, IQ was effectively employed to monitor Zn2+ content in actual environmental samples (tap, pure, and lake water samples, rice, and potato). Additionally, the imaging potential of IQ was utilized to visualize Zn2+ in living cells. The results from these applications indicated that the designed probe IQ is hopeful to be utilized for the recognition of Zn2+ in multiple applications.