Some places have a legal requirement to do this; I think in order to be able to protect the grid (not quite sure why the smart meter can't handle this though; m

Some places have a legal requirement to do this; I think in order to be able to protect the grid (not quite sure why the smart meter can't handle this though; maybe to do with frequency matching or diagnostics) But the main reason they do this is pretty mundane - LCD panels often fail after a few years in the kinds of environments inverters are often installed in (hot, sunny). So they move the display to be an app instead, and you need an internet connection.