Novel methods that can be utilized to identify and detect harmful environmental pollutants still need to be proposed. This article describes the effective design and development of a turn‐on photoluminescence probe, T1 [(E)‐5‐((2‐hydroxybenzylidene) amino) isoindoline‐1, 3‐dione], which is selective and sensitive towards CN− ions having detection limit nM to μM range. When exposed to CN− ions, Probe T1 displays a strong fluorescence response under a 365 nm UV light irradiation with a noticeable low to high intense cyan color photoluminescence visible to the naked eye. For the practical utility of the present probe T1, a paper strips‐based test kit experiment has been demonstrated as a portable and displayable photonic device for on‐site detection of CN− ions. Furthermore, the T1‐CN− adduct has been applied for detecting explosive nitroaromatic compounds, especially PA, based on the photoluminescence quenching mechanism. Using CN− ions, and PA as chemically encoded inputs and corresponding optical output, a molecular logic gate has been constructed. Further, probe T1 has been employed as a bio‐analytical tool to map intercellular CN− ions in live cells. This study invokes a novel approach for designing and developing efficient and selective sensors employing well‐known fluorescent probes as signaling units with prior photophysical knowledge.