Hi ShivB, the Aqara Hub is necessary, for example, if you want to access the settings of the U200 directly from remote, otherwise you can only make changes to the settings locally within range. Because this does not work via HomeKit, Matter, etc. But I personally don't think that's a bad thing. Incidentally, the same principle is used by Nuki, which I personally (still) use. Although I don't have a Nuki Bridge either, all functions, automations etc. work in my case via HomeKit using a HomePod mini to which the Nuki can connect via Bluetooth (Nuki 3.0).