How to have programs automatically added to dash and updated?

Some of the programs I use, like terminal programs, haven't been updated in years, so I am comfortable installing them with sudo apt install.

However, a great many programs, like Arduino, Stellarium, Inkscape, Steam, Kdenlive, etc. are updated frequently - if you install them from the Ubuntu software center or using sudo apt install, you get an ancient version. So I download the programs manually, often as an .AppImage file; this is actually often the recommended way.

This approach has two problems: 1. Programs aren't added to Dash, so I have to launch them from terminal or manually create .local/share/applications/*.desktop files; 2. Updating the programs is a manual process, and quite involved, if I also want to update the .local/share/applications/*.desktop files.

Is there a smart way to both have my programs update automatically and have them accessible from dash?