The technology-centric Nasdaq led the declines as its heavyweight stocks took a hit with the biggest drags from companies including Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc.

The move could make it much easier for people in the U.S. to get the tool on their phone even if their local public health agency hasn't built its own compatible app.

Apple shares have gained nearly 60 per cent this year as the company overcame the shutdown of factories in China.

Apple and Google take a 30 per cent cut from in-app revenue purchases, which has long been a sore spot with developers.

The CEOs of Google and Apple are also testifying remotely for a hearing on antitrust by the House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday.

The panel has conducted a bipartisan investigation over the past year of the tech giants' market dominance and their effect on consumers.

The company added that it was continuing to assess whether hackers were able to access private data of the targeted accounts.

The affected Twitter accounts shared tweets asking for bitcoin donations. Most of the tweets were deleted shortly after they were posted.

Both companies said privacy and preventing governments from using the system to compile data on citizens was a primary goal.

A Japanese aquarium is asking people to call its garden eels via FaceTime so they don't become scared of humans during the coronavirus shutdown.