What "hiding" Explore actually means today
Search this and most answers describe reshuffling, not removal. Refresh the grid by pulling down repeatedly. Interact less with certain content types so the recommendation model deprioritizes them. Report or hide specific posts. All of it works within the grid. None of it takes the tab away.
The Explore tab sits in the bottom navigation bar, one tap away regardless of what's currently populating the grid underneath it.
Explore and search aren't the same thing
Worth separating clearly, because most guides blur it. Tapping the magnifying glass opens two things at once: a search bar for finding a specific account, hashtag, or place, and underneath it, the Explore grid, algorithmically assembled from content you haven't asked for. A fix aimed at Explore should leave the first part alone.
What's left: the web version
Instagram's web version keeps search fully functional while allowing the grid itself to be hidden before it loads, the same mechanism that removes Reels and Stories on the web. A Safari extension can suppress the Explore grid specifically, so tapping search still works exactly as expected, it just doesn't hand you a page of recommended posts underneath it.
Making it stick
The same gap applies here as with every fix on the web version: remembering to open it instead of the app. A guided iOS Shortcut set to intercept the Instagram app icon and hand off to the web version closes that gap without requiring you to think about it each time.
That's the DoomOff toggle for Explore specifically: search stays, the discovery grid goes, and it's a live preview you can check before switching it on.