No Smoking

It is the standard no smoking sign, exactly as it appears in real life. Every major platform draws a lit cigarette, usually with a wisp of smoke, inside a red ring crossed by a red diagonal bar (as of 2026). Behind the glyph is the public sign that bans smoking in airports, hospitals, restaurants, taxis and rented flats in most of the world.

The red ring and bar are the international format for a prohibition sign: the ring says "this is a rule", the bar from top left to bottom right says "not allowed", and the black picture inside says what is banned. Put a bicycle in it and you get 🚳, a mobile phone and you get 📵, nothing at all and you get the plain 🚫. The cigarette version is one of the oldest and most familiar of the set, which is why almost anyone, anywhere, reads 🚭 correctly without words.

What does it mean when someone sends 🚭?

Usually: please don't smoke here. Hosts put 🚭 in a party invite, landlords and holiday-let owners put it in house rules, drivers put it in a ride description, and parents put it in a family chat before a visit. On its own it does not say where the rule stops, so a good message adds the detail: inside only, balcony fine, or nowhere on the property.

The other big use is personal. People post 🚭 to say they have quit smoking, to count smoke-free days, or to mark 31 May, World No Tobacco Day. Here it is a badge of pride rather than a rule, and the right reply is congratulations, not an apology for lighting up.

In a reply or a reaction, 🚭 can also be a quick "no, that's a smoke-free place" to a friend asking whether they can smoke, or a dry "stop that" aimed at someone's habit. Tone follows the words around it: with a smiley it is a gentle nudge, alone it reads like a sign on a wall.