Premium Banner Gets in the Way

I love this app but ever since the update, there is the annoyingly-obvious Upgrade to Premium banner at the bottom of the screen.
I tried to exit it out but then it only brings up the Premium options.
So I contacted the developer and old him the problem, how the “x” doesn’t make the banner go away and asked how I would go about getting it to stop showing up on the dashboard . He said, “You have to buy the Premium in order to get it to go away.”
But what about the x? Is that just put there so users click on it but it inevitably only brings up the details to upgrade? If not, then the app must have a bug.
He then asked me to send a picture of my phone to see what was going on but I never responded because honestly, I didn’t want to waste any more time.
I understand wanting to monetize your app; you put time and effort into making it and it is a good app. But please don’t force it down your users throat by making a banner that takes up nearly a fourth of the screen, and then add an x to the banner like the users can actually make the banner go away.

Write4u2mydear about Productive - Habit Tracker, v1.6